Los Angeles County Department of Children & Family Services v. Ette L.

41 Cal. App. 4th 1557, 96 Daily Journal DAR 871, 96 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 592, 49 Cal. Rptr. 2d 200, 1996 Cal. App. LEXIS 61
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 25, 1996
DocketNo. B089459
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 41 Cal. App. 4th 1557 (Los Angeles County Department of Children & Family Services v. Ette L.) 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
Los Angeles County Department of Children & Family Services v. Ette L., 41 Cal. App. 4th 1557, 96 Daily Journal DAR 871, 96 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 592, 49 Cal. Rptr. 2d 200, 1996 Cal. App. LEXIS 61 (Cal. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

Opinion

ALDRICH, J.

Introduction

Ette L. appeals from the order terminating parental rights, contending the trial court erred in failing to order “ongoing and frequent” sibling visitation for the minor, Nachelle S., as part of the permanent plan. We hold Ette does not have standing to raise this contention on appeal. Even were she to have standing, we conclude no error was committed. The statute upon which she relies was not in effect at the time the trial court filed the order terminating her rights. The order appealed from is affirmed.

Factual and Procedural Background

Nachelle S. was bom on June 22, 1992. The mother, Ette was incarcerated when she gave birth to Nachelle and has a 15-year history of drug abuse, [1559]*1559mental and emotional problems, and extremely violent behavior.1 The father’s whereabouts were initially unknown and he has never provided the minor with the necessities of life.2 Days after her birth, proceedings were instituted under Welfare and Institutions Code section 3003 and Nachelle was placed in the foster home of Mr. and Mrs. S. Nachelle is faring well in her foster placement and Mr. and Mrs. S. indicated a willingness to adopt her.

Nachelle has five siblings who, in 1994, were ages 20, 18, 16, 12 and 9. The three eldest siblings, Natasha C., Emmanuel C., and Kiandra C., currently live with Ette. The two other siblings and Nachelle are under the supervision of the juvenile court, and are currently in permanent placements because of their mother’s drug abuse, neglect and inability to parent.

Early on, the social worker for the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (the Department) investigated the possibility Nachelle could be placed with the same foster family that had been caring for her sibling, Andre, age seven, for two years. However, Andre’s foster mother indicated she was caring for three other foster children ranging in age from six months to eight years, and had no room for Nachelle. Over the course of two years, Nachelle visited with three of her siblings: once with Andre, three times with her eldest sister, Natasha C., and at least five times with her sister Kiandra.

In January 1994, the Department conducted a permanency planning assessment and recommended adoption for Nachelle. The Department recommended, as the result of Ette’s recent release from prison and regular visits with the minor, the court reassess the long-term foster care recommendation in three months. It was further recommended the child be referred for adoption planning if the parents failed to resolve their drug and alcohol problems. At the permanent planning hearing, held on January 12, 1994, the court terminated reunification services, without precluding “informal reunification services,” and scheduled the section 366.26 hearing.

The hearing pursuant to section 366.26 was continued several times. At one such continuance, necessitated by a missing file, the court ordered Nachelle’s adult sibling could have visitation rights once the Department had done a check on her.

[1560]*1560At the four-day contested selection and implementation hearing, Ette testified her older children wanted Nachelle to remain part of the family. The older children indicated they would help Ette care for Nachelle. Dr. Hirsch, the psychologist who evaluated Ette and the father, opined emotional and physical limitations and their living circumstances prevented Nachelle’s birth parents from providing adequate care or parenting for the minor.

On December 20, 1994, the court terminated parental rights, finding reasonable reunification services had been provided. The court further found by clear and convincing evidence Nachelle would likely be adopted and that such action was in the girl’s best interests. In doing so, the court urged the adoptive parents to allow reasonable visitation with any relative.

Ette filed this timely appeal.

Discussion

In this appeal, Ette does not ask that the order terminating parental rights be reversed. Rather, Ette seeks to have the case remanded so the court may provide in the permanent plan for “ongoing and frequent” sibling visitation with all of Nachelle’s siblings, pursuant to subdivision (b) of section 16002.4

We conclude as Nachelle’s mother, Ette has no standing to raise the minor’s right to a court order concerning visitation with her siblings.

Section 902 of the Code of Civil Procedure provides, “[a]ny party aggrieved may appeal” in civil cases such as this. (See In re Ann S. (1982) 137 Cal.App.3d 148, 150 [188 Cal.Rptr. 1]; In re Bryon S. (1986) 176 Cal.App.3d 822, 825-826 [223 Cal.Rptr. 319].)

Ette argues she has standing to raise the issue of a sibling-visitation order notwithstanding her parental rights have been terminated, because “a parent has standing to raise issues of minors’ best interests.” In support of this [1561]*1561proposition, Ette cites In re Bryon S., supra, and In re Ann S., supra. These cases are distinguished.

The court in In re Bryon S. held two reasons justified a finding the minor had standing to assert his father’s right to an interpreter in a juvenile court action charging Bryon with robbery. First, parents have a right to appeal and raise issues in the interest of the minor as well as themselves, and so the converse should be true. Second, the minor was not asserting his father’s right to an interpreter so that the father could understand, but rather the minor’s right to the full participation and assistance of his father in the juvenile court proceedings, which participation had been impeded by the lack of an adequate interpreter. (In re Bryon S., supra, 176 Cal.App.3d at p. 826.) In that sense, the minor was aggrieved.

In re Ann S. concerned the standing of parents in a juvenile court proceeding concerning taking the minor’s physical custody from the parents. In summary fashion, the appellate court concluded the parents were aggrieved by the failure of the court to appoint a new attorney for the minor. (In re Ann S., supra, 137 Cal.App.3d at p. 150.) Because these two cases cited by Ette concern the standing of parents who are aggrieved, they are irrelevant.

Instead, In re Daniel D. (1994) 24 Cal.App.4th 1823 [30 Cal.Rptr.2d 245] is dispositive here. There, the mother, Stacy, appealed from the court’s order terminating her parental rights pursuant to section 366.26, raising among other things, the court’s denial of the minor’s maternal grandmother’s request to be accorded de facto parent status. In rejecting this contention, the Court of Appeal held Stacy lacked standing to raise that issue because her interests were not prejudiced by the denial of de facto status to the grandmother. The court explained, “Stacy’s interest in the dependency proceedings was to reunify with her dependent child Daniel. However, a ‘de facto parent’s nexus with the proceeding is that person’s separate interest and relationship with the child, which may have developed over time through the daily care, affection and concern for the child.

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Related

In Re Nachelle S.
41 Cal. App. 4th 1557 (California Court of Appeal, 1996)

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Bluebook (online)
41 Cal. App. 4th 1557, 96 Daily Journal DAR 871, 96 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 592, 49 Cal. Rptr. 2d 200, 1996 Cal. App. LEXIS 61, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/los-angeles-county-department-of-children-family-services-v-ette-l-calctapp-1996.