In re Angelina A.

Filed 7/27/06 In re Angelina A. CA4/3

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS

California Rules of Court, rule 977(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 977(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 977.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION THREE

Appeal from orders of the Superior Court of Orange County, Carolyn Kirkwood, Judge. Affirmed.

Robert McLaughlin, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

Benjamin P. de Mayo, County Counsel, Dana J. Stits and Aurelio Torre, Deputy County Counsel, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

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Yvette G. (mother) appeals from an order of the juvenile court terminating her parental rights to Angelina A., now two years old.[1] Mother argues the juvenile court abused its discretion by denying her modification petition without a full evidentiary hearing. (See Welf. & Inst. Code, § 388; all further statutory references are to this code unless noted otherwise.) Mother's petition sought to overturn the court's prior order denying her reunification services because she failed to reunify with three other children (§ 361.5, subd. (b)(10)) and previously resisted court-ordered treatment for chronic drug addiction (§ 361.5, subd. (b)(13)). We conclude the juvenile court reasonably determined mother's modification petition failed to establish the requisite prima facie elements of a change in circumstances potentially affecting Angelina and that the proposed modification would be in the child's best interests. (§ 388.) We therefore affirm the judgment.

I

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Responding to a call from the child's paternal aunt, Santa Ana police took then-seven-month-old Angelina into protective custody in January 2005. Her father had abandoned her in a babysitter's care and, unable to locate father for several weeks, the sitter contacted the aunt. The police responded because the aunt had seven children in her care and could not provide for the infant. Mother was in jail for a probation violation related to a drug trafficking conviction, and expected to be released in March 2005. She explained to a social worker that father likely reverted to drug use and homelessness on Los Angeles's skid row.

Orange County Social Services Agency (SSA) filed a dependency petition on January 14, 2005, alleging neglect and sibling abuse. (§ 300, subds. (b) & (j).) After a brief stay at an emergency shelter home, Angelina soon found a placement in the home of a long-term foster care parent. The juvenile court stayed the jurisdiction and disposition hearing pending mother's release from jail.

Interviewed by a social worker, mother admitted using drugs during her pregnancy with Angelina, who tested positive for cocaine at birth. Mother expressed no concern on behalf of Angelina when Los Angeles authorities permitted the child to be released to father from neonatal care. Father left Angelina for months at a time with another paternal aunt and uncle residing in Las Vegas. This couple, Hilda and Mauricio G., formed a close bond with the child. Apart from seeing Angelina at her birth, mother never visited her in the five months preceding her latest jail stint.

Mother's extensive criminal record revealed at least 10 prior convictions between 1994 and 2004, including jail terms for willful cruelty to a child, prostitution, and multiple drug offenses. The child abuse registry showed nine prior reports between April 19, 1994 and June 12, 2004, including substantiated allegations concerning mother's cocaine use, weapons possession, and caretaker absence. Angelina's three half siblings are dependents of the Los Angeles County Juvenile Court. According to the Los Angeles social worker, mother received 18 months of reunification services, but â€