San Diego County Health & Human Services Agency v. Dewayne M.

141 Cal. App. 4th 1564, 2006 Daily Journal DAR 10864, 47 Cal. Rptr. 3d 281, 2006 Cal. App. LEXIS 1257
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedAugust 16, 2006
DocketNo. D047888
StatusPublished

This text of 141 Cal. App. 4th 1564 (San Diego County Health & Human Services Agency v. Dewayne 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
San Diego County Health & Human Services Agency v. Dewayne M., 141 Cal. App. 4th 1564, 2006 Daily Journal DAR 10864, 47 Cal. Rptr. 3d 281, 2006 Cal. App. LEXIS 1257 (Cal. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

Opinion

McINTYRE, J.

Dewayne M., the noncustodial father of John M., appeals the juvenile dependency court’s dispositional order denying his request to place John with him in Tennessee. Dewayne’s contentions fall into two categories; a challenge to the court’s finding that such placement would be detrimental to John (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 361.2) and a challenge to rulings concerning the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC) (Fam. Code, § 7900 et seq.). We conclude the court erred by finding that John’s placement with Dewayne would be detrimental within the meaning of Welfare and Institutions Code section 361.2, abused its discretion by denying Dewayne’s request for a continuance of the dispositional hearing pending completion of a home evaluation through the ICPC process or some other means, and erred by concluding that an ICPC report was required before placing John with Dewayne.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Detention and Jurisdiction

In September 2005, when John was 13 and one-half years old, the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency (the Agency) filed a dependency petition alleging his mother, E.E., physically abused him. The petition did not mention Dewayne, instead listing John’s stepfather as an alleged father. At the detention hearing, the court struck the stepfather’s name from the petition and added Dewayne’s name. John was detained in Polinsky Children’s Center for about one week, then moved to the home of his maternal grandmother, where his 10-month-old half sister, S.E., was also detained.

[1568]*1568E.E. reported that Dewayne was John’s father, was subject to a 1996 child support order and had provided “medical insurance for a while” but had “never paid any child support.” Dewayne told the social worker that he had been in contact with John for one year after a four-year hiatus, and the earlier lack of contact “was not on [his] part.” According to Dewayne, in 1999 John had a broken leg and would not say how it happened, while E.E. claimed that John had fallen. Dewayne also said that E.E. “gets in pure rage” and John had told him that she shook S.E. Just three weeks after the dependency petition was filed, the social worker obtained a criminal clearance for Dewayne showing that he had no criminal record. The social worker concluded that placement with Dewayne was “a viable option” but an ICPC report “would have to be completed before [Dewayne’s] home [could] be considered.”

On October 13, 2005, Dewayne’s counsel asked that John be placed with Dewayne, asserting that he was a nonoffending, noncustodial parent, and placement would not be detrimental. Counsel also requested expedited ICPC proceedings. The court granted the latter request and gave the Agency discretion to detain John with an approved relative with notice to John’s counsel.

On October 14, 2005, John was detained with his aunt, with whom he wished to live. On the same date, S.E. was detained with her parents (E.E. and John’s stepfather). On October 31, John told the social worker that he did not want to live with Dewayne because Dewayne lived in the country. On November 3, the social worker reported, “The Agency has not submitted ICPC and it appears that one will not be needed, as [John] does not desire to live with [Dewayne].” On November 17, the juvenile court entered a true finding on the petition and granted Dewayne supervised visitation.

B. Disposition

At the November 18, 2005 dispositional hearing, the court amended the petition to state that Dewayne had been adjudicated John’s father by a Tennessee court. Dewayne’s counsel requested a continuance pending completion of an ICPC report, and repeated his request for John’s placement with Dewayne as a nonoffending, noncustodial father. The court said that it would not place John with Dewayne and close the case, so an ICPC report was required. It noted that there had been little contact between Dewayne and John, John did not want to move, there was a reunification plan for E.E., and Dewayne was out of state, making him, “to some degree, ... an unknown entity”; and services would be necessary to ensure John’s safety and the [1569]*1569success of a placement with Dewayne. It further stated that its order for ICPC proceedings could not be implemented before the jurisdictional findings; due to John’s age, those proceedings could not be expedited; it would take approximately a month or six weeks to receive the ICPC report and John could be in another placement without foreclosing the possibility of future placement with Dewayne. The court denied the continuance request and ordered that the ICPC report be prepared and submitted as soon as possible.

After the court received the Agency’s reports into evidence, Dewayne’s counsel moved for a directed verdict, arguing that the Agency had not met its burden of showing detriment by clear and convincing evidence. Alternatively, counsel requested a continuance for an ICPC report or a home evaluation by some other method. The court denied the motion. After listening to the social worker’s testimony, it incorporated its earlier remarks and stated that John had serious problems that could be addressed in San Diego, where he had a sibling relationship and an extended family, and he did not have an ongoing relationship with Dewayne. It therefore found detriment and ordered John placed with relatives.

II. DETRIMENT

Welfare and Institutions Code section 361.2, subdivision (a) states: “When a court orders removal of a child pursuant to Section 361, the court shall first determine whether there is a parent of the child, with whom the child was not residing at the time that the events or conditions arose that brought the child within the provisions of Section 300, who desires to assume custody of the child. If that parent requests custody, the court shall place the child with the parent unless it finds that placement with that parent would be detrimental to the safety, protection, or physical or emotional well-being of the child.” Welfare and Institutions Code section 361.2, subdivision (a) evidences “the Legislative preference for placement with [the nonoffending noncustodial] parent.” (In re Austin P. (2004) 118 Cal.App.4th 1124, 1132 [13 Cal.Rptr.3d 616].)

The juvenile court must make the detriment finding by clear and convincing evidence. (In re Luke M. (2003) 107 Cal.App.4th 1412, 1426 [132 Cal.Rptr.2d 907]; In re Isayah C. (2004) 118 Cal.App.4th 684, 700 [13 Cal.Rptr.3d 198].) “We review the record in the light most favorable to the court’s order to determine whether there is substantial evidence from which a reasonable trier of fact could find clear and convincing evidence that the children would suffer such detriment. [Citations.] Clear and convincing [1570]*1570evidence requires a high probability, such that the evidence is so clear as to leave no substantial doubt. [Citation.]” (In re Luke M., supra, 107 Cal.App.4th at p. 1426.)

Here, the court based its detriment finding on John’s wishes, his need for services, his relationship with S.E. and members of his extended family in San Diego, his lack of a relationship with Dewayne, the paucity of information about Dewayne, and E.E.’s reunification plan. These factors do not support the finding.

At the inception of this case, John was 13 and one-half years old and S.E. was 10 months old.

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141 Cal. App. 4th 1564, 2006 Daily Journal DAR 10864, 47 Cal. Rptr. 3d 281, 2006 Cal. App. LEXIS 1257, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/san-diego-county-health-human-services-agency-v-dewayne-m-calctapp-2006.