Los Angeles County Department of Children & Family Services v. Tyrone M.

198 Cal. App. 4th 635, 130 Cal. Rptr. 3d 389, 2011 Cal. App. LEXIS 1085
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedAugust 18, 2011
DocketNo. B229451
StatusPublished
Cited by36 cases

This text of 198 Cal. App. 4th 635 (Los Angeles County Department of Children & Family Services v. Tyrone M.) 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. Tyrone M., 198 Cal. App. 4th 635, 130 Cal. Rptr. 3d 389, 2011 Cal. App. LEXIS 1085 (Cal. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

Opinion

BIGELOW, P. J.

Tyrone M. appeals from a juvenile court order denying his request that he be designated the presumed father of minor J.H. and deeming him only an “alleged biological father.” We find the juvenile court’s parentage ruling incomplete in that it failed to determine biological paternity and therefore reverse and remand for further proceedings.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In July 2010, Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) detained then two-year-old J.H. and his eight-month-old brother. In the first version of the dependency petition, DCFS alleged the mother (mother) had suffered domestic violence at the hands of her male companions, George H. and Frederick B. According to the petition, in August 2009, George H. hit mother and fractured her face in four places. As a result [639]*639of this attack, George H. was arrested and charged with inflicting corporal injury to a spouse or cohabitant. The petition also alleged that mother’s abuse of marijuana rendered her incapable of providing the children with regular care and supervision, and that mother failed to take psychotropic medication to manage her mental and emotional problems. The petition also alleged that Tyrone M., “J.H.’s father,” failed to provide him with the necessities of life, and that Tyrone M.’s whereabouts were unknown. The detention report noted George H. was identified as J.H.’s father on J.H.’s birth certificate. George H. was incarcerated.

Following J.H.’s removal from mother’s custody, Tyrone M. participated in a team decision meeting and subsequently appeared at the July 2010 detention hearing. He filed a Judicial Council form JV-505: Statement Regarding Parentage (JV-505 form). In the JV-505 form, Tyrone M. indicated he believed he was J.H.’s father and requested that the court enter a judgment of parentage and declare him JJH.’s presumed father. He stated he had told his friends, fiancée, adult son, a social worker, and police officers that J.H. was his son. He also represented that he saw J.H. every other day and changed his diapers and clothes. He fed him, read to him, taught him his numbers, and the two played together. Tyrone M. stated that every weekend J.H. went to the place where Tyrone M. refereed basketball. He gave mother money to purchase necessities on several occasions. Tyrone M. also reported J.H. had a relationship with his adult son.

Mother submitted a paternity questionnaire, which the juvenile court described for the record at the detention hearing. Mother identified Tyrone M. as J.H.’s father. Mother said Tyrone M. was not present at J.H.’s birth and he did not sign the birth certificate. She was neither married to Tyrone M. at the time of J.H.’s conception or birth, nor were they living together. But mother claimed Tyrone M. had held himself out to be J.H.’s father and provided support, although he had not received J.H. into his home. Mother’s counsel explained that Tyrone M. visited “semi-consistently,” but he and mother agreed on a place for visits to take place. Mother admitted she was married to someone else at the time of JJH.’s birth and she was still legally married to that man.

The court postponed a hearing on parentage until mother’s husband could be given proper notice. Tyrone M. requested that the court find him to be J.H.’s presumed father, or, alternatively, a Kelsey S. father.1 Later in July, DCFS conducted a prerelease investigation regarding Tyrone M. Tyrone M. had a history of drug use, but he claimed he had been sober for seven years. He also had a criminal history, which included a 1996 felony conviction for rape of a spouse by means of force or fear, with a resulting three-year prison [640]*640sentence. As a result of the conviction, he was required to register as a sex offender. Tyrone M. told DCFS he could provide J.H. with supervision and a safe home. He had moved into a larger apartment to have more space for J.H. DCFS did not recommend that J.H. be released to Tyrone M. at that time due to a lack of drug test results and his criminal history.

In August 2010, DCFS filed a jurisdiction and disposition report. As reflected in the report, Tyrone M. told DCFS he gave mother money for whatever J.H. needed. Tyrone M. stated: “So whatever necessities [J.H.] needed I made sure she had the money to get. I didn’t go buy it but I did provide her with the money to get it. I would see my son just about on a daily basis. When he was with me I would make sure he was well taken care of; I played with him and I tried to teach him his numbers and how to read. In the report it says that I was in his life and providing for him. But then [mother] tried to say that he wasn’t my son. But when it comes to my kids I don’t play; I am a stickler for education. I have never denied that [J.H.] was my son. I have been in his life since birth and even before I found out that he was my son. [Mother] and I were friends and I was in her life as a support but one day we got to talking and I pulled her aside and told her that based on what she was saying it may be a possibility that I was his father. We were never together but we had a one night stand that resulted in my son. But when I found out he was mine I began to provide for him.”

Tyrone M. admitted that George H. was “there for [J.H.] when he was bom,” but also stated that George H. beat mother when she was still pregnant with J.H.’s brother. Tyrone M. said he would do anything to get J.H. back. He conceded he had not completed a substance abuse rehabilitation program, but indicated that he quit using drags on his own seven years earlier.2

George H. denied that he had beat mother. He said J.H. “practically stayed in [his] custody all the time” because mother was in school. George H. further claimed: “When I came home from prison [mother] was pregnant already and I took care of her and when [J.H.] was bom I signed his birth certificate and loved him as if he were my own and to give him a good life. I have no idea who this Tyrone person is. This is all news to me because she told me the father didn’t want anything to do with her or the baby.” He also told DCFS: “I love both boys but I am here in prison and I have 3 more years to go. I will be home in 2013 but a lot can happen in that time. I think the [641]*641boys should be placed in a home where they can be well taken care of and safe. I suggest my friend Jermaine [K.]. I don’t have his information on me but I will write you and give you all of the information.”

DCFS recommended that although J.H. and his brother could not safely be returned to their “parents,” mother and Tyrone M. should receive reunification services. DCFS also recommended that the court deny George H. reunification services because he was incarcerated and was not scheduled to be released until 2013, after the end of the reunification period.

At a hearing in August 2010, Tyrone M. asked the court to order a DNA test so that he might assert his biological paternity of J.H. The court did not rule on the request, stating that it would “revisit that issue.” At the next hearing in September 2010, Tyrone M. again requested that the court order DNA testing as to J.H. The court stated it would not order a DNA test at that point. In October 2010, the juvenile court adjudicated the petition. The court sustained a revised petition which contained no allegations regarding Tyrone M. or George H.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
198 Cal. App. 4th 635, 130 Cal. Rptr. 3d 389, 2011 Cal. App. LEXIS 1085, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/los-angeles-county-department-of-children-family-services-v-tyrone-m-calctapp-2011.