Filed 4/26/06 In re C.R. CA5
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 977.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
FIFTH APPELLATE DISTRICT
| In re C. R., a Person Coming Under the Juvenile Court Law. | |
| KERN COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. J. R., Defendant and Appellant. |
F048780
(Super. Ct. No. JD107722)
OPINION |
APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Kern County. Peter A. Warmerdam, Juvenile Court Referee.
Theodore S. Goodwin, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.
B. C. Barmann, Sr., County Counsel, and Jennifer E. Zahry, Deputy County Counsel, for Petitioner and Respondent.
-ooOoo-
J. R. (father) appeals from the juvenile court's decision to deny his request to continue the disposition hearing and the court's dispositional order that removed his son, C. R., from his legal and physical custody. Father contends the juvenile court abused its discretion when it denied the continuance, erred when it prevented him from examining certain social workers and C.'s mother, and its order temporarily removing C. from his custody and control is not supported by substantial evidence. We disagree with father's contentions and will affirm.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
The Dependency Petition
On July 12, 2005, the Kern County Department of Human Services (Department) filed a petition under Welfare and Institutions Code section 300, subdivision (b)[1] with respect to four-day-old C. R. The petition alleged that C. had suffered, or there is a substantial risk he could suffer, serious physical harm or illness by the inability of his mother, D. C. (mother), to provide him regular care due to her use of illegal controlled substances; at the time of C.'s birth, he had a positive toxicology screen for amphetamines. The petition further alleged 27-year-old mother had been using crank and crystal methamphetamine since she was 24, and she had used both drugs on or about July 7, 2005.
The Department had placed C. in protective custody on July 9, 2005.[2] When the social worker, Terrie Martinez, contacted mother in the hospital, mother stated the baby's father was J. R. She claimed father was working out-of-town with his cousin, she did not know when he would be back, he did not know the baby had been born, and she had no way of getting in touch with him. Mother explained she had been evicted from her home because the owners sold it and she had to be moved out by the following Monday, July 11. Father had been trying to reach the owner of a trailer so they could rent it for the family, but she did not know where the trailer was and had never seen it. Mother admitted using drugs for about two years and that she uses â€
