In re Brian P. (2002)

In re BRIAN P., a Person Coming Under the Juvenile Court Law. ALAMEDA COUNTY SOCIAL SERVICES AGENCY, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. CRISTIAN L., Defendant and Appellant.

[Modification of opinion (99 Cal.App.4th 326) on denial of petition for rehearing.]

THE COURT.-

Appellant's petition for rehearing is denied. The opinion filed herein on June 21, 2002, is modified to add the following footnote on page 9, after the first sentence of the second full paragraph [99 Cal. App. 4th 625, advance report, 1st full par., line 3], which reads: "Because we agree with Cristian's primary claim on appeal, we need not resolve his other contentions, one of which is that the court abused its discretion by denying a continuance."

5 In a petition for rehearing, Cristian asks us to address his claim that the March 2, 2001 order setting the section 366.26 hearing was defective because the court failed to find that he had been provided with reasonable reunification services. Cristian contends he had no notice of the setting order, and therefore should be allowed to challenge it on this appeal. However, the court made no finding on services for Cristian on March 2, 2001 because on June 28, 2000 it had ordered that services need not be provided until his paternity was established. The time for challenging that finding has long since passed.

Cristian protests that he had no notice of any proceedings before the section 366.26 hearing because the Agency made insufficient efforts to find him. On this record, we are not prepared to say that the Agency failed to make a reasonable effort to locate Cristian, a homeless undocumented alien who did not seek to participate in the proceedings until the last minute. If Cristian desires to pursue a claim for reunification services, he may do so by filing a section 388 petition in juvenile court.

There is no change in the judgment.