In re I.A. CA4/3

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 22, 2021
DocketG059510
StatusUnpublished

This text of In re I.A. CA4/3 (In re I.A. CA4/3) 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 I.A. CA4/3, (Cal. Ct. App. 2021).

Opinion

Filed 4/22/21 In re I.A. CA4/3

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

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

ORANGE COUNTY SOCIAL SERVICES AGENCY, G059510 Plaintiff and Respondent, (Super. Ct. No. 17DP0238A) v. OPINION SHERRY B.,

Defendant and Appellant.

Appeal from orders of the Superior Court of Orange County, Antony C. Ufland, Judge. Affirmed. Michelle D. Peña, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant Sherry B. Leon J. Page, County Counsel, Karen L. Christensen and Jeannie Su, Deputy County Counsel, for Plaintiff and Respondent. * * * This juvenile dependency case arose after Sherry B. (Mother) absconded with her young daughter, I.A., allegedly to protect the child from suspected sexual abuse by her presumed father, Jorge S.-A. (Father). The juvenile court sustained the dependency petition and vested custody of I.A. with her paternal grandmother. Reunification services were provided, and I.A. eventually was returned to Father’s custody, with Mother having monitored visitation. In the months that followed, Mother received ongoing enhancement services. The court later terminated jurisdiction and issued exit orders which granted sole physical and legal custody of I.A. to Father and supervised visitation to Mother. Mother appeals from the exit orders. She asserts she was not provided reasonable services, the exit orders are arbitrary and not sufficiently specific, and the court violated the inquiry and notice requirements of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) (25 U.S.C § 1901 et seq.). We reject these contentions and affirm the orders.

FACTS Mother and Father met in 2011 and lived together for a short period of time. They had a daughter, I.A., in May 2016. Father has a limited criminal history that includes convictions for a hit and run and for driving without a license. Mother has a history of substance abuse and a similar criminal history that includes loitering with the intent to engage in prostitution, multiple convictions of driving under the influence, and driving with a suspended license. She also has suffered from a major depressive disorder and anxiety disorder; she takes medication to address her mental health issues. Finally, Mother and Father have a history of domestic violence, which includes Mother hitting Father in late 2016 and early 2017.

2 1. The First Dependency Case In March 2017, I.A. (then only ten months old) sustained a serious burn on her arm. Neither parent had a plausible explanation for her injury. The Orange County Social Services Agency (Agency) filed a juvenile dependency petition (the first dependency case), citing concerns of neglect, domestic violence, substance abuse, and Mother’s unresolved mental health condition. The juvenile court in that case determined ICWA did not apply and sustained the petition. I.A. was then removed from her parents’ custody. Six months later, the juvenile court ordered I.A. returned to Father’s custody under a family maintenance case plan. The court ordered Father to participate in counseling and parenting; Mother was ordered to participate in counseling, a parent education program, substance abuse testing, a substance abuse treatment program, and anger management classes. Father completed his services, and in March 2018, dependency proceedings were terminated with exit orders for Father to have primary physical custody and Mother to have monitored visitation. 2. Events Leading to the Second Dependency Case As noted, the exit orders in the first dependency case required Mother’s visits with I.A. to be supervised. On occasion, however, Father let Mother visit I.A. unsupervised and even keep her for up to five days at a time. According to Father, he did so because Mother threatened to report him to immigration services. At some point in 2018, while changing a diaper, Mother noticed a red mark on I.A.’s vagina. Mother also heard I.A. repeatedly say “chupale” (Spanish for “to suck”) and “No more yucky papi.” Mother took I.A. into a library bathroom during one of their visits and asked her what “chupale” meant. In response, I.A. started sucking on the bathroom faucet. Mother then became concerned that Father was a pedophile and was sexually abusing I.A.

3 In November 2018, Father left I.A. (now age two) with Mother at a Chuck E. Cheese. The visit was unsupervised, in violation of the juvenile court’s exit orders. When Father went to pick up I.A. that evening as planned, Mother and I.A. were gone. Mother, allegedly afraid that Father was abusing I.A., fled with I.A. to Pennsylvania, where Mother’s sisters live. Once they arrived, Mother called the Costa Mesa Police Department to tell them where they were; at that time, she also reported Father’s alleged sexual abuse to police in Pennsylvania. 3. The Petition in the Second Dependency Case The Agency filed a second juvenile dependency petition under Welfare and 1 Institutions Code section 300, subdivision (b)(1), alleging I.A. suffered, or there was substantial risk she would suffer, serious physical harm or illness as a result of her parents’ failure or inability to supervise or protect her adequately and their inability to provide regular care for her due to mental illness, developmental disability, or substance abuse (the second dependency case). Among other allegations, the petition alleged Father had allowed Mother to have unmonitored contact with I.A. in violation of a juvenile court order, and the whereabouts of Mother and I.A. were unknown. The juvenile court issued a warrant of arrest for Mother and I.A. It also found ICWA did not apply, relying in part on the finding in the first dependency case. Law enforcement officers in Pennsylvania located Mother and I.A. in Pittsburg and took Mother into custody. I.A. was examined at a children’s hospital; no indication of sexual abuse was found. The following week, I.A. flew back to California with an Orange County social worker and was placed with her paternal grandmother, Maria S. Santa Ana police detectives elected not to do a CAST interview of I.A. concerning Father’s alleged sexual abuse. Mother’s sister sent them a video to support

1 All further undesignated statutory references are to this code.

4 Mother’s accusations, but the detectives determined Mother was leading the child in the video. Mother was extradited to California. The Agency interviewed Mother in jail; Mother reiterated that she took I.A. out of state to protect her from Father’s sexual abuse, asserting she did what “any mother would have done to protect her child.” Mother also stated she did not feel she needed to complete services such as counseling or parenting classes, as she had completed them during the first dependency case. Around that same time, Mother accepted a plea deal in Pennsylvania that included pleading guilty to one count of felony child abduction; she was sentenced to three years formal probation with 150 days credit for time served. In February 2019, at the jurisdictional hearing in the second dependency case, the juvenile court sustained the petition, finding the allegations true by a preponderance of the evidence. The court denied visitation with Mother, finding that visitation would be detrimental to I.A. The next month, at the contested disposition hearing, the juvenile court declared I.A. a dependent of the court and vested custody with the Agency for suitable placement.

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Bluebook (online)
In re I.A. CA4/3, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-ia-ca43-calctapp-2021.