In re F.F. CA4/2

California Court of Appeal

In re F.F. CA4/2

DecidedJanuary 21, 2025

DocketE084480

StatusUnpublished

This text of In re F.F. CA4/2 (In re F.F. CA4/2) 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.

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In re F.F. CA4/2, (Cal. Ct. App. 2025).

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Opinion

Filed 1/21/25 In re F.F. CA4/2

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION TWO

In re F.F., a Person Coming Under the Juvenile Court Law.

SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES, E084480

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Super.Ct.No. J298644)

v. OPINION

J.F.,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from the Superior Court of San Bernardino County. Annemarie G.

Pace, Judge. Affirmed.

Marisa L. D. Conroy, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant

and Appellant.

Tom Bunton, County Counsel, and Helena Rho, Deputy County Counsel, for

Plaintiff and Respondent.

1 Defendant and appellant, J.F. (father), filed a Welfare and Institutions Code

section 388 petition,1 which the juvenile court denied. The court then terminated father’s

parental rights as to F.F. (minor). On appeal, father contends the court erred in denying

his petition without holding an evidentiary hearing. We affirm.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On October 6, 2023, personnel from plaintiff and respondent, San Bernardino

County Children and Family Services (the department), received a referral alleging that

A.F. (mother)2 tested positive for fentanyl and amphetamines after giving birth to minor.

Healthcare workers took minor to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) because she

was suffering from withdrawal symptoms.

Mother admitted using heroin daily throughout her pregnancy; she also admitted

using methamphetamine twice weekly until she was six months pregnant. Mother said

she lived with father, that he knew she was using drugs, and that he tried to get her to

stop using during her pregnancy.

Mother had been the subject of two prior department referrals. In 2016, the

juvenile court removed mother’s son from her custody due, in part, to his positive test for

methamphetamine and opiates at the time of his birth. The juvenile court subsequently

terminated mother’s parental rights to her son.3

1 All further statutory references are to the Welfare and Institutions Code.

2 Mother is not a party to the appeal.

3 Mother’s son was not father’s offspring.

2 Mother had two other children who were no longer in her custody. A court had

granted the father of the oldest child sole legal and physical custody in 2012. Another

court ordered the other child into a legal guardianship with the maternal grandmother in

2014 due to mother’s drug use. Mother had four separate criminal convictions for

burglary, possession of methamphetamine, possession of a controlled substance, and

reckless driving.

Father denied any current illegal drug use, but said he used marijuana

occasionally. He reported that he and mother had been living together for three years.

Father conveyed that he knew mother used drugs at the beginning of their relationship,

and that he had tried unsuccessfully to help her get sober. He believed that she had only

been using methadone during her pregnancy.

In 2016, the juvenile court removed father’s daughter from his custody when she

tested positive for cannabinoids and methamphetamine at birth. The juvenile court

subsequently terminated father’s parental rights to the daughter.4 Father had 10 separate

criminal convictions, including two convictions for possession of a controlled substance

and three convictions for being an addicted felon in possession of a firearm.

Department personnel took minor into protective custody pursuant to a warrant.

On October 10, 2023, department personnel filed a section 300 juvenile dependency

petition alleging that mother had an untreated substance abuse problem (b-1), that father

knew or reasonably should have known that mother had an untreated substance abuse

4 Father’s daughter was not mother’s offspring.

3 problem (b-2), that father had an untreated substance abuse problem (b-3), that mother

knew or reasonably should have known that father had an untreated substance abuse

problem (b-4), that a juvenile court had previously terminated mother’s reunification

services and parental rights as to minor’s sibling (j-5), and that a juvenile court had

previously terminated father’s reunification services and parental rights as to minor’s

sibling (J-6). On October 11, 2023, the juvenile court detained minor.

In the jurisdiction and disposition report filed October 30, 2023, the social worker

recommended the court find the allegations in the petition true; remove minor from

parents’ custody; decline to offer either parent reunification services pursuant to section

361.5, subdivision (b)(10) (court previously terminated reunification services as to

minor’s sibling) and (b)(11) (court previously terminated parental rights as to minor’s

sibling); and set a section 366.26 hearing. Minor remained in the NICU while she

continued to experience withdrawal symptoms.

Father disclosed that he began using methamphetamine and heroin when he was

19 years old.5 He said he used for four to five years when he was in a relationship with

his ex-wife. Father reported he got clean and maintained his sobriety for the previous

seven years.

During a child and family team meeting, “the maternal grandmother had disclosed

that [father] purchases urine that will pass a drug test and uses [it] to pass his drug

screenings at work.” He had also left the hospital while visiting minor to purchase urine

5 Father was 32 years old at the time the social worker filed the report.

4 in case the hospital asked him to drug test. Father showed the maternal grandmother that

the purchased urine was stored in a false penis, which he had used previously to pass

drug screenings for work.

During the meeting, parents asked if they could go out for a cigarette break. When

they returned, “they appeared to be under the influence.” “It should be noted, during

their interviews immediately before their cigarette break, neither parent exhibited”

symptoms. The social worker sent the parents to complete an on-demand drug test.

Mother tested positive for amphetamines, fentanyl, and norfentanyl. Father tested

positive for fentanyl.

The social worker spoke to a nurse in the NICU, who reported that minor scored

“on the high side” for in-utero drug exposure. Minor’s meconium had tested positive for

amphetamine. The nurse reported that parents had visited minor the previous day but had

not visited for days before.

The maternal grandmother reported that parents were “using drugs and are being

deceitful when stating that the mother has recently been sober[,] and the father has been

sober for years.” She said father had asked her to adopt minor and, once the case was

closed, to return minor to parents’ care. The maternal grandmother refused. She reported

that parents then planned on having the paternal grandmother adopt minor, after which

she would return minor to parents.

The maternal grandmother provided the social worker with a text from mother

reading “I[’d] also rather her be with someone that I know is going to give her back first

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