In re J.C.
Annotate this CaseMother pled no contest to a petition filed by the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) that asked the juvenile court to assume jurisdiction over three-month-old J.C. because the child was born with methamphetamine in his system and mother had a long history of drug abuse, Welf & Inst. Code 300(b). Father submitted on the petition based on the various DCFS reports and other documentary evidence admitted in evidence. The trial court assumed jurisdiction of J.C. based on J.C.’s positive test, mother’s drug abuse, and on father’s failure to protect J.C. from mother’s drug abuse. The trial court denied reunification services for mother, placed the child in foster care, and ordered reunification services for father. The court declined to place the child with either father or paternal grandparents based on father’s and mother’s previous history with the DCFS, which included incidents of domestic violence and drug use and questions about father’s mental health. The court of appeal affirmed, rejecting father’s clams that there was insufficient evidence that he knew or could have done anything to stop mother’s drug use during her pregnancy and that there was no evidence he posed a risk of harm to J.C.
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