In re Sophie K. CA2/4

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 12, 2023
DocketB315277
StatusUnpublished

This text of In re Sophie K. CA2/4 (In re Sophie K. CA2/4) 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 Sophie K. CA2/4, (Cal. Ct. App. 2023).

Opinion

Filed 1/11/23 In re Sophie K. CA2/4 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 FOUR

In re Sophie K. et al., Persons B315277 Coming Under Juvenile Court Law. LOS ANGELES COUNTY (Los Angeles County DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN Super. Ct. No. AND FAMILY SERVICES, 19CCJP04498A-B)

Plaintiff and Appellant,

v.

SARAH W.,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Mary E. Kelly, Judge. Affirmed in part, vacated in part, and remanded with directions. David M. Yorton, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Dawyn R. Harrison, Acting County Counsel, Kim Nemoy, Assistant County Counsel, and William D. Thetford, Deputy County Counsel, for Plaintiff and Appellant __________________________________________

INTRODUCTION Appellant Sarah W. (Mother) appeals from a September 20, 2021, juvenile court order sustaining a petition under Welfare and Institutions Code section 3871 and removing her daughters, Sophie, then age three, and Riley, then age one, from her custody for the second time. The juvenile court case had begun more than two years before, after Mother had multiple psychiatric hospitalizations in less than a month. The court had ordered Sophie and Riley detained after a hearing on July 17, 2019, and then removed from their parents’ care after an August 22, 2019, hearing. About a year later, on September 17, 2020, the juvenile court ordered the children returned to Mother’s care after receiving evidence of her compliance with her court-ordered mental health treatment plan. About a year after that, on September 20, 2021, the court held a hearing on the section 387 petition underlying

1 Undesignated statutory references are to the Welfare and Institutions Code.

2 this appeal. The court received evidence that Mother continued to experience psychiatric symptoms and hospitalizations after the court returned the children to her care. The court concluded that its prior order had proven ineffective to ensure the children’s safety and ordered them removed once more from Mother’s care. The court extended reunification services, which action the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) now challenges in its cross-appeal. We affirm the order of the juvenile court sustaining the section 387 petition and removing the children from Mother’s care. We vacate the court’s order extending reunification services and remand with instructions to conduct further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND Mother and Donald K. (Father) are the parents of Sophie, born October 2016, and Riley, born October 2018. Because Father is not a party to this appeal, we omit discussion of the facts and procedural history pertaining solely to him.

A. DCFS Investigates a Referral On June 19, 2019, DCFS received a referral alleging Mother was neglecting the children, then two years old and eight months old, due to mental illness resulting in symptoms such as suicidal ideation and acts of self-harm. At

3 the time of the referral, Mother had recently been discharged from a one-week psychiatric hospitalization. A children’s social worker (CSW) spoke with Mother at the shelter where she and the children had been staying since her release nine days before. Mother told the CSW that the children’s maternal grandmother (MGM) would be able to care for them if Mother were to again require hospitalization, and that MGM had done so during Mother’s recent week-long hospitalization. The CSW also spoke with Mother’s case manager at the shelter, who voiced suspicion that Mother was not taking her prescribed psychiatric medication. The CSW spoke with MGM on June 27, 2019. MGM stated her view that Mother needed more consistent and comprehensive mental health treatment due to her continuing thoughts of suicide. MGM stated she was willing to care for the children when needed but believed it was detrimental to them to keep going “back and forth” between Mother’s care and hers. The next day, the CSW learned that Mother had again been hospitalized after reporting that she was “‘blacking out’” and having an “‘out of body experience.’” Mother was diagnosed at that time with stress-induced seizures. MGM cared for the children until Mother was discharged a few days later.

4 B. DCFS Investigates Another Referral and Files a Petition On July 1, 2019, DCFS received another referral, this one reporting Mother had just been hospitalized on a psychiatric hold and continued to confess thoughts of suicide and self-harm. Mother told the CSW she had no specific plans to act on her suicidal thoughts but stated that she felt she was “‘going downhill.’” The CSW again spoke with Mother’s case manager, who said that Mother had asked MGM to pick the children up from the shelter but MGM was unable to do so immediately because she was at work. The CSW transported the children to a DCFS office, where a family member subsequently came to retrieve the children. That night, the CSW learned that Mother had been discharged after denying being suicidal. The CSW received a text message from Mother stating that she was “‘really sad and depressed,’” expressing remorse for not being honest with the hospital staff, and stating she did not know “‘why I can’t just die and never come back.’” The next day, the shelter asked Mother to leave due to her refusal to receive recommended psychiatric services. After a conversation with the CSW, Mother agreed to accept help and asked that the children be left with MGM while she did that. Mother subsequently informed the CSW she had checked herself into a residential treatment program and again asked that the children be left with MGM.

5 On July 10, 2019, DCFS obtained a removal order from the juvenile court. The children were already in MGM’s care at the time of the order and remained there. A few days later, DCFS filed a petition under section 300, subdivision (b), alleging that Mother’s psychiatric problems, along with her failure to accept treatment or take prescribed psychiatric medication, rendered her unable to provide regular care and supervision for the children and placed them at risk of serious physical harm.2

C. The Court Detains the Children At a July 17, 2019, hearing, the court ordered the children detained and granted Mother monitored visits. The children remained in MGM’s care. A dependency investigator (DI) spoke with Mother, who confirmed her psychiatric diagnoses and hospitalization history. Mother reportedly had been diagnosed with “Major Depressive Disorder, Recurrent, Severe with Psychotic Symptoms,” “Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, Chronic,” and “Borderline Personality Disorder” as well as, according to her, Anxiety Disorder and Bipolar Disorder. She reported twice experiencing post-partum depression and admitted

2 On August 14, 2019, DCFS filed an amended petition, adding a second count alleging Mother and Father endangered the children by permitting the maternal grandfather, a known sex offender, to have unsupervised access to the children. Both parents denied the allegations. Because Father is not a party to this appeal, and the court did not sustain this count as to Mother, we need not address it here.

6 cutting herself, at times. She described her symptoms as worsening and exacerbated by caring for the children and a lack of stable housing.

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214 Cal. App. 4th 1154 (California Court of Appeal, 2013)
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In Re Joel H.
19 Cal. App. 4th 1185 (California Court of Appeal, 1993)
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Bluebook (online)
In re Sophie K. CA2/4, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-sophie-k-ca24-calctapp-2023.