In re Jac. H. CA2/7

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 16, 2025
DocketB335648
StatusUnpublished

This text of In re Jac. H. CA2/7 (In re Jac. H. CA2/7) 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 Jac. H. CA2/7, (Cal. Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

Filed 1/16/25 In re Jac. H. CA2/7 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION SEVEN

In re JAC. H. et al., Persons B335648 Coming Under the Juvenile Court Law. (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. 22CCJP02365A-C)

LOS ANGELES COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES,

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v.

DANIELA B. et al.,

Defendants and Appellants.

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Jean M. Nelson, Judge. Affirmed. Sarah Vaona, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant Daniela B. Mitchell Keiter, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant Jonathan G. Dawyn R. Harrison, County Counsel, Kim Nemoy, Assistant County Counsel, and Avedis Koutoujian, Deputy County Counsel, for Plaintiff and Respondent. ________________________

INTRODUCTION

Father Jonathan G. and mother Daniela B. appeal from an order terminating their parental rights under Welfare and Institutions Code section 366.26.1 They contend they established the beneficial parental relationship exception to prevent termination of their parental rights, and that the juvenile court abused its discretion when it failed to apply the exception. (§ 366.26, subd. (c)(1)(B)(i).) We conclude the juvenile court did not abuse its discretion and affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND2

Jonathan and Daniela have three children, J.G. (born 2019) and twins Jac.H. and Jan.H. (born 2014) (collectively, the

1 All undesignated statutory references are to the Welfare and Institutions Code, unless otherwise specified. 2 The facts leading up to and including the jurisdiction and disposition hearing are summarized from our previous opinion, In re J.H. (May 10, 2024, B325348 [nonpub. opn.].)

2 children).3 Daniela also has an older child, A.H., with another man. A.H. is not a subject of these dependency proceedings. Jonathan and Daniela arranged for the children to live with their maternal grandmother, Judith R., in November 2021. The parents lived at the paternal grandmother’s home, which was a few blocks away, but regularly visited the children. Judith was designated as the prospective adoptive parent when the juvenile court terminated Daniela’s and Jonathan’s parental rights.

A. Prior Referrals and Dependency Proceedings Before J.G.’s birth, Jac.H. and Jan.H., along with A.H., were declared dependents of the juvenile court in two prior dependency proceedings. In 2016, the court found allegations of neglect were substantiated after Daniela reportedly attempted suicide by laying in the middle of the street and refusing mental health services. In 2017, the juvenile court sustained allegations that Daniela was incapable of providing regular care for Jac.H., Jan.H., and A.H. due to her history of illicit drug abuse and her current abuse of amphetamine and methamphetamine, and that Daniela and A.H.’s father had a history of mutually violent altercations. The court granted custody of A.H. to his father and returned Jac.H. and Jan.H. to Daniela’s custody. The court terminated its jurisdiction over the children in 2018. The Department received four referrals involving the family in 2021. Each referral was deemed inconclusive or unfounded. In November 2021, Jonathan and Daniela arranged

3 The twins share a last name with A.H.’s father. They discovered Jonathan was their biological father when they were three years old and Jonathan is the presumed father in this case.

3 for the children to live with Judith, citing the burden of the multiple referrals against them.

B. Current Dependency Proceeding On June 17, 2022, the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (Department) filed a dependency petition pursuant to section 300, subdivisions (b)(1) and (j), alleging seven-year-old Jac.H. and Jan.H. and two-year-old J.G. were at substantial risk of harm due to Daniela’s substance abuse and Jonathan’s failure to protect. The juvenile court ordered the children detained with Judith, with whom they were already living.

1. Jurisdiction Findings and Disposition Orders Count b-1 of the section 300 petition alleged Daniela had a history of illicit drug abuse and was a current substance abuser, which rendered her incapable of providing regular care and appropriate supervision for the children. The petition alleged Daniela was under the influence of drugs while the children were in her care, smoked a substance with a straw and foil over a flame in the presence of Jan.H., and that she overdosed on opiates requiring emergency medical treatment in 2020. The petition further alleged J.G. was of “young age requiring constant care and supervision” and that Jac.H., Jan.H., and A.H. were prior dependents of the court due to Daniela’s drug abuse. Count b-2 alleged, in relevant part, that Daniela “created a detrimental and endangering home environment for the children in that the mother smoked an unknown white substance in the children’s home,” causing Jan.H. to feel ill. Count j-1 duplicated the same allegations and language as count b-1.

4 The juvenile court sustained the petition at the September 7, 2022 combined jurisdiction and disposition hearing. Neither parent appeared but they were each represented by counsel at the hearing. In denying a request by Jonathan’s counsel for a continuance, the court observed, “Parents are essentially refusing to participate in the case. They never responded to the [Department’s investigator] for interviews. They are not [drug] testing. They didn’t bother to show up today for their children’s case. A continuance would not ensure father’s appearance.” The children’s counsel argued extensively, urging the court to sustain the petition as pleaded. The court found that the evidence, while circumstantial, was “stitched together carefully and in a compelling way” by the children’s counsel and demonstrated a preponderance of the evidence for each of the allegations. The court acknowledged it is very hard to confirm drug use when parents refuse to test, but it noted the parents were “so willing to avoid all testing that they want to give up custody of their children and they don’t even want to appear in this case.” The juvenile court declared the children dependents of the court and removed them from both parents’ custody with reunification services and monitored but separate visitation for each parent. The juvenile court ordered Daniela to complete weekly drug and alcohol testing, a parenting program, and individual counseling. Jonathan was ordered to complete five random drug and alcohol tests, a parenting program, and individual counseling. Daniela appealed. We affirmed the jurisdiction findings and disposition order, concluding substantial evidence supported

5 the juvenile court’s orders. (See In re J.H. (May 10, 2024, B325348) [nonpub. opn.].)

2. Six-month and 12-month Review Hearings On March 8, 2023, the juvenile court held the six-month hearing and found the parents were not in compliance with their case plan. The Department had reported Jonathan and Daniela failed to submit to drug or alcohol testing and failed to participate in the court-ordered parenting program or individual counseling. Neither parent consistently communicated with the Department. Daniela, however, regularly visited with the children twice a week for three hours per visit.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

In Re Matthew C.
862 P.2d 765 (California Supreme Court, 1993)
In Re Marilyn H
851 P.2d 826 (California Supreme Court, 1993)
In Re Autumn H.
27 Cal. App. 4th 567 (California Court of Appeal, 1994)
In Re Celine R.
71 P.3d 787 (California Supreme Court, 2003)
L. A. Cnty. Dep't of Children & Family Servs. v. Shawn M. (In re Elizabeth M.)
228 Cal. Rptr. 3d 213 (California Court of Appeals, 5th District, 2018)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
In re Jac. H. CA2/7, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-jac-h-ca27-calctapp-2025.