Julie B. (Mother) appeals the judgment of the juvenile court terminating her parental rights concerning her daughter, Christina L., pursuant to Civil Code section
After first finding no notice defect and no deprivation of due process in the manner in which this petition was pled and pursued, when the factual and prоcedural background of the entire case is considered, we shall conclude the reunification services offered were reasonable under all the circumstances of the case. (Civ. Code, §
A petition was again filed to establish a dependency on behalf of Christina under section
Initial visitation with Christina did not go well. When Christina first saw her mother and grandmother, with whom her mother lived, she cried, would not let go of her foster mother, and would not go near either her mother or her grandmother. The social worker consulted a psychologist in August 1988 about Christina's behavior when she saw her mother, and was told there seemed to be low bonding between Christina and her mother due to environmental deprivation in the home, which produced signs of fear in Christina. Another psychologist confirmed at that time that Christina's acting out during the visits with her mother сould be a reaction showing she did not want to return to the home environment from which she was taken. Later *409 visitation with Mother and the grandmother seemed to cause acting-out behavior in Christina, such as hitting and biting, and by November 1988 Christina had been moved to several different foster homes.
In compliance with her reunification plan, Mother submitted to a psychological evaluation in September 1988. She was diagnosed as suffering from mild to moderate mental retardation, with depressive tendencies. The psychologist, Dr. Zapinsky, found her unable to grapple with the magnitude of the problems that led to her daughter being removed from her care. Mother blamed the police for Christina's removal, and blamed her own absent father for the condition of the house. Dr. Zapinsky also assessed the interaction between mother and daughter. Christina's initial reaction toward Mother was one of dismay. Mother seemed oblivious of the effect she created on her daughter by continually hugging and kissing her, causing a reaction on Christina's part which "seemed to verge on a lifeless, paralytic shock." Christina was also separately evaluated, and found to be a traumatized child who was in need of special parenting. There was "little sign оf Christina's bonding to her natural mother." Instead, Mother's clinging to her daughter seemed to produce quiet panic and progressive withdrawal on the part of the daughter.
Jill Johnson, a department of social services (the Department) social worker, handled the case from September 1988 through December 1989, while it was in reunification status. She testified at trial on the petition for freedom from parental custody and control (Civ. Code, §
Mother also told the social worker that she оnly wanted to work on one thing at a time on her reunification plan, even though, in the social worker's opinion, Mother was capable of working on more than one component of the plan at once. She first completed a parenting class in December 1988; visitation did not improve and it was unclear if she learned anything from class. She also worked with a social services agency, New Alternatives, which assisted her in fixing up the dilapidated house. The New Alternatives *410 social worker also worked with Mother on parenting issues at her request. Jill Johnson then obtained a therapy referral for Mothеr to Dr. Dicicco, a clinical psychologist with expertise in working with developmentally delayed adults.
Mother began therapy sessions with Dr. Dicicco in March 1989. The therapeutic goals were to help Mother become a better parent and to assist her in reunifying with her daughter and separating from her own mother, on whom she was very dependent.5 Dr. Dicicco saw Mother, the grandmother, and Christina together for a few therapy sessions, but found that Christina's language was still limited and that, at three and one-half years of age, she was hard to understand. Consequently, he did not continue to treat Christina. He believed Christina's devеlopmental delays and behavior problems could pose difficulties for Mother if she were to regain custody.
After Mother first saw Dr. Dicicco for four sessions, she quit, believing she was not required to participate in therapy any longer. After three months, Mother resumed therapy for about eight months. However, Dr. Dicicco testified at trial that Mother's emotional problems, which he viewed as separate from her developmental disability, prevented her from getting more help from the services offered to her. He believed his involvement as a therapist came too late in the reunification process to do much good. He explained that for his services to be helpful, there would have to have been more bonding already between mother and child. He found that Mother, who had a tendency to be distrustful, distrusted him as part of the system, which interfered with the therapeutic process. At the court's questioning, Dr. Dicicco indicated that Mother would have to be motivated and participate in any available services in order to obtain any value out of them.
As shown in dependency records supplied to this court in the form of an augmentation of our record, Mother was still refusing in early 1989 to return to thе regional center for assistance in her reunification efforts. A dependency minute order of February 24, 1989, shows she was ordered to submit to a developmental evaluation through the regional center before reunification could take place.6 On May 23, 1989, Mother's attorney scheduled a special hearing to inquire into why the Department had not yet obtained the *411 evaluation from the regional center. Together, Mother's attorney and the social worker convinced Mother to apply for regional center services, and the hearing was taken off calendar. After some delay, a regional center referral to a contracting agency, Toward Maximum Independence, was obtained to assist Mother in moving from the substandard home (which she accomplished by August 1989). The Toward Maximum Independence social worker also agreed to supervise visitation and to offer parenting training. These efforts began in July 1989 and continued for a month or two, until Mother stopped cooperating and the agency refused to provide further services.
In a supplemental report prepared in September 1989 summarizing the reunification services provided to date, the probation оfficer reported that services particularly appropriate to a developmentally disabled person had only recently begun (approximately July 1989). The worker further noted that reunification should now be considered questionable because Mother would no longer cooperate with Toward Maximum Independence, and more time was needed to find another appropriate social service agency. Meanwhile, the 18-month period for the provision of reunification services (§ 361.5, subd. (a)) would end in December 1989. An adoption assessment, to supplement one already prepared, was requested at that time.
Mother regularly visited Christina from June 1989 through mid-August. During late August and September 1989, Mother stopped visiting. During the period of no visitation, Christina's teachers noticed that her attitude and behavior seemed to improve. When visitation resumed in late September 1989, Christina became moody, withdrawn, defensive, and argumentative. By November 1989, Christina did not want to visit Mother.
A second psychological evaluation of both mother and daughter was performed in October and November 1989. Mother showed herself to be somewhat delusional; she believed that case aides had guns and wanted to hurt her. The еxaminer concluded that although Mother had some limited understanding of appropriate parenting techniques, she was still far too concrete in her thinking to be flexible to the rigorous demands of a young child, especially a child who had special needs herself. In his examination of Christina, the evaluator found she had limited speech skills and suffered an adjustment disorder with mixed emotional features. She was found to be suffering from a nonorganic failure to thrive which adversely affected her psychological development and ability to form attachments.
At a review hearing in the dependency matter hеld in December 1989, Christina was continued as a dependent of the juvenile court, placed in foster *412 care. A permanent plan of adoption was ordered and court-mandated reunification services were terminated.
Approximately five months later, the Department filed its petition for freedom from custody and control. Trial commenced in December 1990, and concluded on February 8, 1991. At trial, the juvenile court received into evidence the probation officer's report and its attachments. (Civ. Code, §
Testimony was taken from social worker Jill Johnson, who summarized the efforts made and stated she did not know of any available appropriate services that were not offered to Mother. However, she noted that if Mother had been involved with the regional center earlier, it was possible there might have been some other services, such as in-home visits by an agency called A.R.C. However, she doubted that would have been enough, due to the limited nature of those visits (two hours/week). She reiterated that the reason for the delay from August 1988 through April 1989 in providing services to Mother that were characterized by expertise with developmentally delayed persons was Mother's resistance to therapy, her refusal to request regional center services and her refusal of its outreach effort, and her desire to do one thing at a time on her reunification plan. There was a "log jam" for a while since Mother would not go in and the regional center would not come out. Eventually, Johnson made a referral for therapy although Mother was still resistant to it.
Dr. Dicicco testified that the only appropriate service hе could think of that was not provided was a residential facility where she could live with her daughter; however, he had no knowledge of whether such a facility existed. Johnson testified there was no such facility in San Diego County.
Christina's therapist, who had been seeing her since January 1990, testified that Christina had no attachment or bond to Mother, and it would be detrimental to return her to Mother's custody.
An adoptions worker was called to testify that in preparing her assessment, she had not visited Mother's current home and had no information it was not clean and sanitary. Her current recommendation for adoption was not based on the cleanliness of the home.
In her testimony, Mother told the juvenile court that she and Christina were bonded as mother and daughter. She explained she had initially refused *413 to go to the regional center because she felt they were not very helpful to her.
In closing argument, Mother's attorney contended the Department did not go out of its way to provide adequate services that were suited to Mother's strengths and weaknesses. He noted Dr. Dicicco had said that adequate services that would address Mother's problems did not seem to be available. The attorney claimed that social worker Johnsоn's efforts to provide services did not conform with what Dr. Dicicco thought were necessary.
Agreeing with Mother's attorney that this was a tragic situation, the juvenile court found that reasonable efforts had been made to reunify mother and daughter, and no adequate parental relationship now existed nor was expected to be existing in the future. The court sustained the petition as to Mother under Civil Code section
Mother timely appealed the judgment terminating hеr parental rights.
Mother first claims the child welfare services that were offered and provided to her did not adequately account for her special needs as a developmentally disabled person. The parenting class that she took was not specialized for such parents; the in-home visits provided by the agency "New Alternatives" to assist her in improving her household conditions were not geared toward disabled persons; and pressure to make Mother seek specialized services from the regional center was not applied on her until May 1989, when her attorney scheduled a hearing to inquire into why such an evaluation had not been performed as ordered. Mother contends these services do not meet the tests set forth in case law that, under section 361.5, reunification plans "must be appropriate for each family and be based on the unique facts relating to that family." (In re Edward C. (1981)
It is equally well established that "[r]eunification services are voluntary, and cannot be forced on an unwilling or indifferent parent. (In re Lynna B. [1979] 92 Cal.App.3d [682,] 702 [
(3) The difficulty in applying these principles here stems from the fact that Mother suffers from a developmental disability as well as emotional problems, and has been psychologically evaluated as lacking judgment and insight into hеr problems. However, a parent under such circumstances is not excused from the statutory requirement of a reunification plan. In a proceeding for freedom from custody and control, the focus must be on the best interests of the child. (Civ. Code, §
Accordingly, where termination of the parental rights of such a parent is a possibility, the Department and the juvenile court are required to tailor the reunification plan to accommodate his or her special problems and limitations. (In re Victoria M.,supra,
(4) Thus, at the stage of the proceedings when a trial on a petition for freedom from custody and control is underway, the court is required under Civil Code section
In this case, although Mother's counsel vigorously argued the issue of the allegedly inappropriate services at the trial on the petition for freedom from custody and control, the reunification period had already long passed, along with the opportunity to timely correct any inadequacies. Although Mother's counsel in the dependency matter commendably took the initiative of pressuring her to obtain regional center services in May 1989, by then Christina had already been out of the home for almost a year, and the reunification goal was daily becoming more remote.
In In re Misako R. (1991)
Faced with a similar problem in In re Laura F. (1983)
In the case before us, the circumstances under which the services were provided included not only Mother's developmental disability and emotional problems, but also her persistent refusal to apply to the regional center for the voluntary services that it provided to developmentally disabled persons. Even though this record shows the social worker on the case did nоt profess expertise in services locally available to developmentally delayed adults, she consistently asked Mother beginning in the fall of 1988 to voluntarily seek assistance from the regional center as part of her reunification plan. Mother refused to do so until her attorney took the initiative of setting a court hearing specifically for the purpose of enforcing an order that she do so, in May of 1989. Under pressure, Mother then agreed to apply for services. However, once she began working with the agency which contracted with the regional center, Towards Maximum Indepеndence, she was able to cooperate with its social worker only for a period of about two months. Mother also showed resistance to therapy, even with a therapist specifically trained in working with developmentally disabled clients. She consistently told the social worker that she only felt she was able to work on one component of her reunification plan at a time, even though the social worker believed, based on Mother's lifestyle, that she was able to accomplish more than that.
This record as a whole shows the Department, faced with these problems, made a "good faith effort to develop and implement a family reunification plan" (In re John B., supra,
Kremer, P.J., and Nares, J., concurred.
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"The court shall make a determination that reasonable services have been provided or offered to the parents which were designed to aid the parents to overcome the problems which led to the deprivation or continued loss of custody and that despite the availability of these services, return of the child to the parents would be detrimental to the child. The probation officer or social worker currently assigned to the case of the child shall appear at the termination proceedings.
"If the minor has been adjudged to be a dependent child of the court pursuant to Section