In Re CD

1 Cal. Rptr. 3d 578, 110 Cal. App. 4th 214
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJuly 7, 2003
DocketB157482
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 1 Cal. Rptr. 3d 578 (In Re CD) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In Re CD, 1 Cal. Rptr. 3d 578, 110 Cal. App. 4th 214 (Cal. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

1 Cal.Rptr.3d 578 (2003)
110 Cal.App.4th 214

In re C.D. et al., Persons Coming Under the Juvenile Court Law.
Department of Children and Family Services, Los Angeles County, Plaintiff and Respondent,
v.
Eric D., Defendant and Appellant.

No. B157482.

Court of Appeal, Second District, Division Seven.

July 7, 2003.

*580 John L. Dodd, Tustin, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

Lloyd W. Pellman, County Counsel, and Stephanie Jo Farrell, Deputy County Counsel, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

Certified for Partial Publication.[*]

*579 JOHNSON, J.

Eric D. (father) appeals from the juvenile court's dispositional order removing his two children from his custody. Father asks this court to reverse the order based on his contentions: (1) the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services failed to comply with the notice requirements of the Indian Child Welfare Act,[1] (2) the court abused its discretion when it denied father's Marsden[2] motion, (3) there is insufficient evidence supporting the court's decision to remove the children, and (4) there is insufficient evidence supporting the court's finding father has a history of drug and alcohol use.

In the published portion of the opinion, we hold notice to a tribe under the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) must include, among other things, the categories of information set forth in the Bureau of Indian Affairs Guidelines (Guidelines) at 25 Code of Federal Regulations part 23.11 (d)(3), if such information is known, including, but not limited to, the name of a child's grandparents. We find the Department of Children and Family Services has complied with the notice requirements of the ICWA in this case.

In the unpublished portion of the opinion, we find there is insufficient evidence to support the juvenile court's jurisdictional finding regarding drug and alcohol use. Accordingly, we reverse this finding and the dispositional order to the extent the order includes a substance abuse component. We affirm the dispositional order in all other respects, and reject father's Marsden challenge.

FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS BELOW

On September 14, 2001, the Los Angeles Sheriffs Department took father's children into protective custody based on allegations of physical abuse by father. The same day, deputies and a social worker interviewed the children, M. (age 7), and C. (age 8).

According to the detention report, M. said father "slapped him in the cheek and eye causing him to suffer a black eye and fall to the ground" on September 10, after father discovered M. had been hiding notes from his teacher. M. said father kept him out of school for three days because he did not want anyone to see the black eye. M. *581 also said father kicked him on the legs and hit him on his buttocks with a belt the same day. At the time of the interview, M. had bruising and swelling around his left eye, "a one-inch abrasion on his back" and "two horizontal marks across his buttocks." M. recounted another incident of abuse which occurred when he was helping his father with a chore. M. said "father smacked him in the mouth causing his tooth to bleed," and hit him on the forehead with father's head, because M. did not understand and follow father's directions. M. said father told him not to talk to social workers or "the cops."

C. said father also told her not to talk to social workers and not to open the door if a social worker comes to the house with the police. During the interview, C. denied M. had a black eye and she "tried to convince [M.] that father did not hit him." C. said "sometimes father hits her on the head and causes her to lose her balance and fall to [the] ground." She recounted an incident which she said occurred around January 2001 when "father `smacked' her in the head and started kicking her" when she burned some noodles she was cooking. C. said she was stirring the noodles when father hit her on the head and this caused her to burn her arm and hand. C. showed the social worker a scar on her arm which she said resulted from this incident. C. said when she was five years old father also hit her and kicked her when "she was stirring the food and she was not doing it right."

Father denied M. had a black eye, but said "he did see a scratch near [M.'s] eye that might have come from their dog." Father said he disciplined M. for hiding the notes by standing him in the corner. He said he kept M. out of school for a few days and brought M. to work with him "to give [M.] a `one on one, bonding time'" with father and to encourage M. "to get an education so he does not have to work two jobs like father does." Father explained the children had no contact with their mother. He said they were taken away from her about five years before because they were malnourished and were living in a dirty home.[3] Father said that as a result of a prior dependency case, he attended two parenting classes.

In a subsequent interview on September 17, 2001, C. said she wanted to tell the judge: "Dad's spanking us a lot. He's always putting us in the corner...." She also told the interviewer: "[Dad]'s being mean to us sometimes." M. said he wanted to tell the judge about the incident discussed above when he was doing a chore incorrectly and father "bumped his head into" M.'s head and "smacked" M. in the mouth, causing his tooth to bleed.

On September 19, 2001, the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) filed a petition under Welfare and Institutions Code [4] section 300, subdivisions (a) and (b), alleging father physically abused and neglected C. and M. The petition also alleged father has a history of using drugs and alcohol, which renders him "incapable of providing regular care for the children" and endangers the children's "physical and emotional health and safety and creates a detrimental home environment." A social worker from San Luis Obispo, who had dealt with this family in the past, reported "there were allegations of drug and alcohol abuse for mother and father" in a prior dependency case.

*582 On September 19, father appeared at a detention hearing and the juvenile court appointed counsel for him. The court found DCFS had made a prima facie case for detaining C. and M. and ordered them placed in foster care. The court also ordered reunification services and monitored visits for father. At the hearing, father reported the children's paternal grandfather, who is deceased, was of Blackfeet heritage. The court appointed an expert to determine whether the "case falls within the Indian Child Welfare Act [ICWA]." Mother later reported her paternal grandparents, who are deceased, "had Cherokee American Indian heritage."

DCFS sent notice of the proceedings under the ICWA to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), the Blackfeet Tribe, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the Cherokee of South East Alabama and the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. DCFS used a preprinted form issued by the State of California Health and Welfare Agency and the California Department of Social Services entitled "Notice of Involuntary Child Custody Proceeding Involving an Indian Child" (form SOC 19).

DCFS also asked the BIA to confirm the children's status with the Blackfeet and Cherokee Tribes. For this purpose, DCFS used another pre-printed form issued by the State of California Health and Welfare Agency and the California Department of Social Services entitled "Request for Confirmation of Child's Status as Indian" (form SOC 318).

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Bluebook (online)
1 Cal. Rptr. 3d 578, 110 Cal. App. 4th 214, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-cd-calctapp-2003.