Los Angeles County Department of Children & Family Services v. Rosa P.

95 Cal. App. 4th 84, 2002 Daily Journal DAR 335, 115 Cal. Rptr. 2d 18, 2001 Cal. App. LEXIS 3173
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 10, 2001
DocketNo. B149292
StatusPublished
Cited by36 cases

This text of 95 Cal. App. 4th 84 (Los Angeles County Department of Children & Family Services v. Rosa P.) 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. Rosa P., 95 Cal. App. 4th 84, 2002 Daily Journal DAR 335, 115 Cal. Rptr. 2d 18, 2001 Cal. App. LEXIS 3173 (Cal. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

Opinion

KLEIN, P. J.

Rosa P. (mother) appeals a dispositional order entered by the juvenile court with respect to minors Karen R. (1987), Alvaro R. (1992) and Jennifer R. (1994).

Factual and Procedural Background

At the adjudication hearing in March of 2001, Karen R. testified that she previously lived with her maternal grandmother in Guatemala until approximately two years ago when she moved here at the age of 11 years to be with mother and father.

On January 2, 2001, Karen R. was babysitting her younger siblings, Alvaro R. and Jennifer R., as she frequently does. At approximately 10:00 p.m., mother and father returned home from work. Karen R. was in the bathroom. Father began to bang loudly on the bathroom door and called Karen R. a “bitch.” When Karen R. opened the door, mother and father grabbed Karen R. by the hair, threw her to the floor of their bedroom and began to kick her. Father kicked Karen R. approximately five times. Mother kicked Karen R. “about three times.” Father also punched Karen R. in the face and body, struck and strangled her with a jump rope and said he was going to kill her. Mother struck Karen R. and called her a “bitch.” Mother got an electric shaver and plugged it in for father who began to cut Karen R.’s hair. Karen R. repeatedly asked father not to cut her hair but father told Karen R. to “shut up.” After father cut Karen R.’s hair to chin length, father told mother to return to work and report they would not return that night.

Mother complied and, when she left the house, father told Karen R. that if she had sexual intercourse with him, he would not cut all her hair. Karen R. said she would never have sexual intercourse with father. Father told Alvaro R. and Jennifer R. to go to their room because he wanted to speak to Karen R. alone. Karen R. told them not to leave but father said, “Yes, leave.” Father took Karen R. to his bedroom and again told her that if she had sexual [87]*87intercourse with him he would not cut her hair. Karen R. again refused. Father then tore off Karen R.’s clothing, cut off the remainder of her hair, threw Karen R. on the bed and raped her while he held her hands behind her back. Afterwards Karen R. called father “stupid” and he slapped her. Father told Karen R. that if she told anyone or left the house, he would find her and kill her. Karen R. ran to the bathroom, cleaned herself with a towel, went to Alvaro R. and Jennifer R.’s room wrapped in a towel and told them she had been raped.

When mother returned, father continued to strike Karen R. with his fist in Alvaro R. and Jennifer R.’s bedroom. Alvaro R. and Jennifer R. were both crying. At approximately midnight, mother and father took Karen R. to the kitchen and forced her to do push-ups and sit-ups. Father made degrading comments to Karen R. during these exercises and called her a “slut.” Father stood on Karen R.’s back and repeatedly poured cold water on the nape of her neck. Mother sat “there in a chair” and did nothing. Karen R. asked why father was mistreating her but father told Karen R. to “shut up.” Father made Karen R. exercise until approximately 5:00 a.m. when he went to bed and told Karen R. to sleep in the laundry room until 6:00 a.m. and then prepare mole for breakfast.

Karen R. was not allowed to attend school for about four days after this incident because she was “black and blue.” After four days, the facial bruises faded and mother and father told Karen R. to wear a sweater and pants. Karen R. did not report the incident until about three days later.

Karen R. testified father once previously raped her in his bedroom in September 2000. On that occasion, father told mother to visit her friends with Alvaro R. and Jennifer R. and to leave Karen R. at home to feed father. When Karen R. prepared mole, father said he did not want it, threw Karen R. into his bedroom and told her to have sexual intercourse with him. Father grabbed Karen R., tore off her clothes and raped her while holding her hands behind her back.

When mother came home, Karen R. was crying and told mother that father had raped her. Mother did not believe Karen R. and said father was not capable of doing that. Mother called Karen R. a liar and said she “better shut up.” Father also previously has struck Karen R. and her siblings and has forced them to exercise for two or three hours if any one of them did something wrong. Mother was present for these incidents. Father also touched Karen R.’s butt on “many” occasions in an inappropriate way and once tried to kiss her while mother was in the bathroom.

On cross-examination, Karen R. testified father is the only male with whom she has ever had sexual intercourse. Father once previously attempted [88]*88to rape Karen R. but she escaped. Father threatened to kill Karen R. if she said anything each time he raped her and when he attempted to rape her. Karen R. “detested” father for the things he had done to her.

Eight-year-old Alvaro R. and six-year-old Jennifer R. testified they became frightened after they saw father hit Karen R. and went into their room to watch television. Later that night, Karen R. came into their room wrapped in a towel. Her hair had been cut, she had a swollen eye and she was crying. Jennifer R. heard Karen R. tell mother that father had raped her. Mother replied, “I don’t want to hear you. Shut your mouth.” Jennifer R. testified she was “a little bit” afraid of her parents before the night of Karen R.’s abuse because they had hit her and Alvaro R. with a belt on numerous occasions. Witnessing Karen R.’s abuse made Jennifer R. afraid that her parents would abuse her. Alvaro R. testified father had hit him once with a belt softly but it had not hurt.

Father denied he had ever raped Karen R. or acted in a sexually inappropriate manner but admitted that on January 2, 2001, he struck Karen R. with his hands and a jump rope, shaved her hair and made her exercise for approximately 45 minutes. Father denied choking Karen R. with the jump rope but admitted wrapping it around her neck. Father denied he had threatened to kill Karen R. and testified he loved her as a daughter.

Dr. Astrid Heger examined Karen R. and found evidence of repetitive trauma to the vagina and hymen that would be inconsistent with consensual sexual activity.

The juvenile court found, among other things, that Karen R. had been sexually abused by father on September 20, 2000, and January 2, 2001, mother failed to take action to protect Karen R. from said abuse and such conduct by father places Karen R.’s siblings, Alvaro R. and Jennifer R. “at risk of suffering similar sexual abuse.” The juvenile court declared the minors dependent children under Welfare and Institutions Code section 300, subdivisions (a) through (d), (i) and (j).1

The juvenile court proceeded immediately to disposition and ordered mother to attend anger management classes counseling, group counseling, a 52-week parenting class, individual counseling for anger management, physical abuse and failure to protect the children, sexual abuse counseling and conjoint counseling with Karen R. when appropriate. With respect to father, the juvenile court denied family reunification services. The juvenile court indicated it had decided not to deny mother family reunification [89]*89services “because it could be that through her programs [she will] decide[] to separate herself from the father in order to get all three of her children back in order to form a relationship with Karen [R].”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
95 Cal. App. 4th 84, 2002 Daily Journal DAR 335, 115 Cal. Rptr. 2d 18, 2001 Cal. App. LEXIS 3173, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/los-angeles-county-department-of-children-family-services-v-rosa-p-calctapp-2001.