Los Angeles County Department of Children & Family Services v. Pedro Z.

190 Cal. App. 4th 12, 117 Cal. Rptr. 3d 605, 2010 Cal. App. LEXIS 1942
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 16, 2010
DocketNo. B223478
StatusPublished
Cited by44 cases

This text of 190 Cal. App. 4th 12 (Los Angeles County Department of Children & Family Services v. Pedro Z.) 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. Pedro Z., 190 Cal. App. 4th 12, 117 Cal. Rptr. 3d 605, 2010 Cal. App. LEXIS 1942 (Cal. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

Opinion

MALLANO, P. J.

Presumed father Pedro Z., Sr. (Father), who was incarcerated throughout these proceedings, appeals from an order denying him [16]*16family reunification services with his son, Pedro Z., Jr., bom in 2002, after the juvenile court asserted dependency jurisdiction pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code section 300, subdivision (b) (failure to protect) and placed Pedro with his mother, Norma D. (Mother), under the supervision of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS).1

Father claims he was entitled to reunification services under section 361.5 as a matter of law. There is no statute or case specifically addressing the issue of whether a former custodial parent is entitled to reunification services under section 361.5 at the time of the disposition hearing when the child is placed with the other custodial parent. We hold that under these circumstances reunification services are not mandated under section 361.5. The order denying Father reunification services is affirmed.

BACKGROUND

Father, Mother, Pedro, and Pedro’s half sister, Ashley T., lived together in the family home.2 Father was on probation for a drug-related offense when a probation compliance search of the home on October 1, 2009, revealed methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia. Father was arrested and remained in custody throughout these proceedings. Pedro and Ashley were detained and placed in foster care until November 2009, when they were placed in the family home with the maternal grandmother after Mother moved out of the home to live nearby with another relative.

Father admitted to DCFS that he had a 10-year history of drag use and that he had used methamphetamine earlier on the day of his October 2009 arrest. He had been in a rehabilitation program for the previous two years, but he relapsed four days before his October 2009 arrest.

Seven-year-old Pedro told DCFS that he knew what drugs were and that he had seen Father smoke drugs in the kitchen and outside the family home. Pedro saw Father smoke a pipe with “green stuff” and powder in it. Pedro said that Father hid drugs in cabinets under the kitchen sink, which was one of the locations where the police found methamphetamine in their search. Pedro also claimed that he hid in the hallway so that he saw Father when he smoked, but that Father could not see him.

Pedro also told DCFS that Father sometimes hurt him by hitting him with an open hand on the back of his head and his back, and with his fist on his legs, hips and buttocks. Father left red marks but did not draw blood.

[17]*17Mother, who was at work during the day, denied knowing that there were drugs in her home and that Father had relapsed. Although Pedro claimed to have witnessed domestic violence between his parents, his parents both denied any domestic violence. Both parents also denied that Father physically abused Pedro.

On November 23, 2009, Pedro and Ashley were placed with the maternal grandmother in the family home after Mother moved out of the home to stay nearby with a relative. The maternal grandmother monitored Mother’s visits. Mother visited consistently for several hours every weekend. In November 2009, the juvenile court granted Father’s request that he be allowed to send letters to Pedro. In December 2009, Mother completed a 30-hour parenting class, and at the time of the jurisdiction and disposition hearing in February 2010, Mother was attending an anger management class. Mother denied an anger problem but took the class upon the advice of her attorney.

In January 2010, Father was on an immigration hold in state prison and was to be deported to his country of origin, but the prison facility did not provide DCFS with a date of deportation. Father was not able to receive any telephone calls in state prison at that time. In a January 21, 2010 interim review report, DCFS recommended that Father not receive any family reunification services because DCFS did not know if Father planned to return to the United States after his deportation and participate in court-ordered services.

After both parents testified at a contested jurisdiction and disposition hearing on February 25, 2010, the juvenile court found that Mother was unaware of Father’s drug relapse. The court sustained an amended petition under section 300, subdivision (b), based on the parents’ “detrimental and endangering home environment for the children in that methamphetamine was found in the children’s home within access of the children,” on Father’s possession of drug paraphernalia in the home within access of the children, on Father’s 10-year history of drug abuse and current use of methamphetamine, and on Father’s inappropriate discipline of Pedro by striking Pedro’s head with his hand.

At the disposition hearing, Father’s attorney requested that the court offer Father family reunification services, notwithstanding Father’s anticipated deportation. Father’s attorney argued that “the Department has not established that he will not be able to return to the country within the two years that he would be allowed under the law. [1] His . . . probation violation that he’s serving will be done on June 10th of this year. And so I believe that he has the possibility of reunifying with his child. And I’m requesting family reunification services.”

[18]*18Over the objection of DCFS, the juvenile court ordered the children placed in Mother’s home under the condition that Father not reside in the home. Family maintenance services were ordered. Noting that Mother had already completed a parenting course, the court did not order further programs at that time. The court denied Father reunification services “since it is a home of parent, mother, order. However, should he be ... in a position to return to the family—or to the country, then, the Department can work with him to develop a case plan. I would want to see some type of drug testing and substance abuse counseling for father,” “and parenting.” The court also permitted Mother to transport Pedro to see Father in custody, and should Father return to the United States, he was to have monitored visitation, with the maternal grandmother as the monitor.

Father appeals from that part of the February 25, 2010 order purportedly denying him family reunification services. He argues that, as a presumed father, he was entitled to reunification services under section 361.5 as a matter of law unless one of the statutory exceptions applied, and the court did not find any of the exceptions to be applicable. Father also maintains that there is no statutory authorization for the denial of reunification services based on the probability of his deportation. He claims that the denial of services is prejudicial because the absence of services “will affect the family law orders which the court will make on termination of dependency jurisdiction and thus father’s ability to return to his family in the future,” and that it was likely that Mother would receive sole legal and physical custody of Pedro.

In Father’s reply brief, he requests that we take judicial notice of a copy of an August 12, 2010 electronic record of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department showing that Father has been in its custody since May 23, 2010, with no reported release date.3

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
190 Cal. App. 4th 12, 117 Cal. Rptr. 3d 605, 2010 Cal. App. LEXIS 1942, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/los-angeles-county-department-of-children-family-services-v-pedro-z-calctapp-2010.