Z.B. v. L.B.

198 Cal. App. 4th 1235
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedAugust 9, 2011
DocketNo. A126914
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 198 Cal. App. 4th 1235 (Z.B. v. L.B.) 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
Z.B. v. L.B., 198 Cal. App. 4th 1235 (Cal. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

Opinion

SIGGINS, J.

The probate court appointed 16-year-old H.C.’s brother and sister-in-law as her guardians over the objection of her mother, L.B. L.B. contends the court committed constitutional error when it declined her requests for appointed counsel. She also asserts the guardianship is not supported by substantial evidence and that the court failed to obtain a statutorily required report and comply with the notice requirements of the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (ICWA; 25 U.S.C. § 1901 et seq.). In the published portion of this opinion, we conclude L.B. was not entitled to appointed counsel and that the results of a child protective services investigation were adequately reported to the trial court. In the unpublished portion we conclude that only the ICWA claim has merit. We therefore order a limited reversal for compliance with the ICWA, and otherwise affirm the judgment.

BACKGROUND

H.C. Comes to Live with Z.B. and Heather B.

H.C. was bom in May 1995. Her brother Z.B., 16 years her senior, had always been a father figure to her. Z.B. became concerned about his sister in [1240]*1240the spring of 2008, when she was in seventh grade. Her academic performance had plummeted and she had been caught smoking marijuana, stealing condoms and skipping school. Z.B. and his wife, Heather B., tried to arrange for H.C. to spend a semester with them in Santa Rosa, but L.B. would not permit it.

In May 2009 Z.B. drove to Clearlake to check on H.C. When he arrived, she and her friends were smoking marijuana and cigarettes. L.B. was asleep on a couch a couple of feet away. Z.B. told H.C. that she was coming to live with him. H.C. packed her things and left voluntarily with Z.B.

Z.B. decided that one way to help H.C. was to have her talk with her various family members about her poor behavior. One of those relatives was L.B.’s brother Steven M., who owned the house where H.C. and L.B. lived. When it was time for her to speak with her uncle Steven, H.C. started screaming and crying as they drove to Steven’s house. Finally, she told Z.B. that Steven had molested her. Z.B. took H.C. back to her mother’s home and called his wife to figure out what to do next. That evening Z.B. learned that L.B. left H.C. at Steven’s house. He picked her up and together they reported the molestation to the sheriff.1

Once the matter was reported to the sheriff, Lake County Child Protective Services (CPS) became involved. H.C. told the assigned child protective worker that L.B. knew she smoked marijuana, and L.B. admitted she used methamphetamine within two weeks of her interview by CPS. Although L.B. knew about the molestations she had not notified the police, sought medical care, or taken any steps to protect her daughter. The caseworker concluded it was necessary to place H.C. either with a guardian or in foster care.

CPS could not place H.C. with Z.B. if she were formally detained in a dependency because he had a criminal record. However, he was the only person who demonstrated any care for H.C., and the caseworker felt that placement with Z.B. and Heather would be better for her than foster care. When she was presented with the alternatives of foster care or placement with Z.B., L.B. signed a nonbinding “safety plan” consenting to let H.C. live temporarily with her brother and sister-in-law.

Z.B. and Heather quickly filed petitions for appointment as H.C.’s temporary and permanent guardians. They alleged that H.C. had been sexually assaulted by Steven, that Steven came by her house every day, and that due to the assaults she had been getting into trouble and missing school. They [1241]*1241further alleged that L.B. knew about the assaults but failed to notify law enforcement, had an ongoing drug problem, and relied on Steven for a home, work, and money. H.C. filed a written consent to the proposed guardianship.

The court denied the petition for temporary appointment on June 12, 2009, after Z.B. and Heather failed to appear at two scheduled hearings.

The Court Investigator’s Report

The court investigator filed a report on July 23, 2009. Z.B. told the investigator that both of his parents abused methamphetamines when he was a child. He related a childhood and early adulthood spent moving from place to place with his mother and various relatives and friends, punctuated by about a year and a half in juvenile detention facilities when he was in high school. In his early 20’s Z.B. moved to San Diego and fathered his first child. He owed back child support but was making support payments. Eventually he moved back to Northern California, where he lived with a woman for several years and fathered a daughter.

Z.B. started using methamphetamine when he was 23 or 24 years old and used heavily between 2005 and 2006, but he completed a nine-month drug program and told the investigator he was drug free except for one “slip up” within a year of the interview. Z.B. spent a year in jail for possession of methamphetamines when he was in San Diego and since then was arrested for fighting about three times. Heather had one arrest from June 2009 that she explained to the court investigator occurred when she picked up mail from a former address where she and Z.B. were still receiving mail and was arrested for possession of stolen property. The case was pending during the guardianship proceedings.

Z.B. and Heather met in 2005, married in 2007, and had a child in 2009. Z.B. said that Heather brought structure to his life and enabled him to care for H.C. The couple lived in a two-story, three-bedroom home in a residential neighborhood, where H.C. shared a bedroom with Z.B.’s eight-year-old daughter from his previous relationship. The home was very clean and well kept. Z.B. did some plumbing jobs and had received a workers’ compensation settlement for a job-related injury. Heather worked part time for a construction company and was starting a vending machine business with Z.B. She also had some business dealings on eBay.

The confidential portion of the investigator’s report provided the detail of Z.B.’s criminal history. He had a number of arrests between 1994 and 2008: a 1998 conviction for battery, a 2004 conviction for transporting controlled substances that was set aside after he completed a drug treatment [1242]*1242program, a 2007 conviction for fighting in public, and a 2008 probation violation and misdemeanor convictions for possession of a controlled substance and grand theft.

L.B. had been arrested three times between 1994 and 2004. Each incident involved possession of a controlled substance. In 2004 she was arrested in Kansas for possession of simulated controlled substances, child endangerment, possession of opiates and driving with a suspended license, but was convicted only for driving on a suspended license.

During the guardianship proceeding, H.C. was living with Z.B. and Heather in Rohnert Park. She did not want to live with L.B. She told the court investigator that she told L.B. about Steven’s sexual abuse of her just before Christmas 2008, but that L.B. continued to leave her alone with Steven and told her not to tell Z.B. Steven dropped by their house every day.

H.C. believed her mother had drug problems. L.B. slept “all the time,” and was hard to awaken. L.B. told H.C.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
198 Cal. App. 4th 1235, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/zb-v-lb-calctapp-2011.