In re David S.

Filed 3/27/06 In re David S. CA2/3

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 977.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

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION THREE

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Lori Schroeder, Temporary Judge. (Pursuant to Cal. Const., art. VI, § 21.) Order is affirmed.

Michael A. Salazar, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

No appearance for Respondent.

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In this dependency court case, Armando B., the father of the subject minor child (Father), challenges the trial court's decision to place the child with maternal relatives rather than with Father himself or with Father's sisters. Besides the jurisdictional problem raised by Father's untimely challenge to the placement, the facts of the case show that the trial court's placement of the minor child David S. (David) was proper. We therefore affirm the order from which Father has appealed.

David's First Year In the Dependency System

In May 1997, petitions were filed with the Superior Court of Orange County to have David and his sister Ashley declared dependents of the juvenile court. The petitions allege that when Ashley was born she tested positive for methamphetamines and she was exhibiting withdrawal symptoms. The petitions further allege that the children's mother (Mother) has a long history of drug abuse, Father knew or reasonably should have known of Mother's substance abuse and failed to protect the minors, Mother has a lengthy criminal history, and Father has a criminal history related to spousal abuse. David, who was born in January 1993, was four years old at that time. Orange County dependency court records indicate he was also born with drugs in his system.

At the Orange County detention hearing on May 6, an attorney was appointed for Father. By the time of the Orange County adjudication hearing on July 21, 1997, David was living with Mother at the home of the maternal grandparents (MGPs) and Ashley was in shelter care because there were concerns about the ability of the MGPs, who were elderly, to care for an infant. The minors were found to be persons coming within the provisions of section 300, and the case was transferred to Los Angeles County for disposition.

The application for a dependency petition that was drawn up by a social worker with the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (the Department) states that the grandparents were amenable to having David live with them but they felt they could not care for the infant Ashley too unless Mother also lived in the home. At the August 25 transfer hearing and the August 29 detention hearing on the Orange County petition, the Los Angeles Superior Court detained David to the home of his maternal grandmother. At the August 29 hearing, the court ordered that Ashley be placed in a foster home close to the MGM's home. Father remained residing in Orange County. The MGPs had raised David since he was born and until Mother took him to Orange County, and the social worker reported David was strongly bonded with the grandparents. David stated he wanted to remain with his grandparents, whom the social worker opined were capable of caring for him. The parents were given monitored visits.

A subsequent petition was filed on November 7, 1997. It added allegations that Mother was incarcerated, and that Father and Mother engaged in an incident of domestic violence, and the allegations were sustained at a December 17 adjudication hearing. Also on December 17, a disposition hearing was held on the Orange County petition. The minors were declared dependents of the court and custody taken from the parents. The parents were ordered to counseling, with Father's counseling to be for parenting and domestic violence, and 8 consecutive clean drug tests. The court ordered monitored visitation.

By the time of the April 29, 1998 detention hearing for the parents' new child, Nicole (born in April 1998), Father had missed all of the hearings for David. However, he appeared for Nicole's detention hearing. An assessment by the Department of that same date states that Father continued to reside in his brother's tire shop in Garden Grove and until February 1998, he showed little interest in David. Then he started to have â€