In re M.D. CA4/1
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS
California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.
William D. Caldwell, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.
Claudia G. Silva, County Counsel, Lisa M. Maldonado, Chief Deputy County Counsel, and Eliza Molk, Deputy County Counsel, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
INTRODUCTION
Miguel D. (Father) left his eight-year-old daughter, M.D., alone inside a locked apartment that had no electricity, an empty non-operable refrigerator, and no edible food. Trash, dog feces, electrical cords and power tools were strewn throughout the home. After waking up to find her father and his truck
On appeal, Father asserts we must reverse the juvenile court‘s jurisdictional order because
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
I.
Circumstances Leading to the Current Dependency Petition
M.D. lived with Father. He had been raising her as a single parent as a result of a prior dependency case filed in June 2015, in which the mother2 was found to have inflicted significant facial injuries to M.D. when she was nine months old. Father was awarded sole legal and physical custody of M.D. when the juvenile court terminated jurisdiction in September 2015.3 During the dependency case, and the subsequent voluntary case that was opened to monitor Father and M.D., Father received individual therapy, in-home parenting education, and family maintenance services. The voluntary case was closed in February 2016 when Father completed services. But in the years that followed, the Agency continued to respond to concerns about M.D.‘s welfare.
In May 2017, when she was two years old, Father left M.D. alone in a “hot” car, with the engine and air conditioning running, while he went inside
In July 2018, the Agency investigated concerns that neighbors saw M.D. unsupervised, hungry and dirty; the referral was closed as “[u]nfounded” when the social worker observed M.D. to be clean and food was available in the home. In March 2022, the Agency received a report that M.D. climbed out of the apartment window when Father left her home alone while he was at work; this referral was closed as “[i]nconclusive” because the Agency was “unable to locate the family.”4
Seven months later, on October 5, 2022, police officers responded to a call for a welfare check on eight-year-old M.D. “roaming around outside without supervision.” The officers found M.D. “unkempt” and in the middle of the apartment complex. When they walked her back to her apartment, the front door was locked and nobody was home. M.D. then grabbed a step stool she kept near the front door, placed it at the kitchen window, climbed inside through the window, and unlocked the front door for the officers.
Upon entering the apartment, the officers were met with “a foul stench” of rotten trash and mold. There was no electricity because Father had not paid the bills and “[t]he floor was littered with extension cords,” some of which were used to illegally “tap[ ] into a neighbor‘s electricity” through the attic. The refrigerator was not working and “completely empty.” The kitchen cupboards contained some pantry foods (such as jars of pasta sauce, cans of peas, pancake mix, instant mashed potatoes, hamburger helper, and boxed rice) but required additional ingredients to be cooked or edible. “[H]ordes of trash, junk and power tools [were] strewn throughout the apartment” and the back patio floor was covered with trash and dog feces. A stolen catalytic converter and California commercial license plate were also found in the home. It was determined that M.D. slept on the bottom of a bunk bed located in the middle of the living room near the back patio that also contained piles of clothing and “vacuums,” while the top bunk was “completely covered with
M.D. told the officers that Father gave her a “gas station pizza” the previous night and told her to go to sleep. When she woke up on the morning of October 5, 2022, Father was gone. She climbed out the kitchen window to look for him and found his truck was also gone. M.D. was taken into protective custody. The assigned social worker tried calling Father multiple times at 5:00 p.m. that day, nearly five hours after officers found M.D. alone, but was unable to locate him. Her voicemail and text messages also went unanswered until the next day.
When the social worker interviewed M.D she said she was in the second grade and had only been “home schooled because ‘it costs a lot of money’ to go to school.” When the social worker asked about food in the home, M.D. said, ” ‘Sometimes I am hungry so I drink water and that makes me full.’ ” She was asked about what kind of food was in the home and she responded, ” ‘just water bottles, that‘s all.’ ” M.D. said Father leaves her alone for ” ‘10 hours, not that long’ ”5 and ” ‘goes to donate blood [to get money], goes to the casino, [and] goes to the store.’ ” She explained Father ” ‘goes to Pala and San Diego casinos and all casinos. He likes all of them.’ ” She said no one checks on her when Father goes to the casino, but explained, ” ‘My dog checks on me.’ ” If Father leaves her alone overnight and she is hungry when she wakes up in the morning, she drinks water. If she gets “really hungry” and ” ‘can‘t wait for [her] dad anymore,’ ” she will go to her neighbor who gives her food.
The next morning on October 6, 2022, Father returned the social worker‘s calls and later met her in person the same day. He stated he was at the junkyard on October 5 getting something for “a customer” and he was not gone for long and thought his neighbor, Margarita O., was “going to help him” with M.D. He denied leaving M.D. home alone, or that there was a lack of supervision or a risk of danger to M.D. because she had a dog that ” ‘protects her.’ ” When confronted with M.D.‘s statements that contradicted his, Father claimed she does not tell the truth and “makes up stories as she is [eight] years old.” The social worker found Father “was unable to comprehend” why leaving M.D. alone was unsafe. Instead, he “adamantly denied his daughter was in any danger because the dog was there to ‘protect her.’ ”
Father explained they did not have electricity because someone ” ‘hacked’ ” into his account and turned off the electricity, but he was “trying
The apartment manager informed the Agency that Father is “very far behind in rent, at least 8 or 9 months” and “is under eviction.” The manager explained, ” ‘There is no power in the place and [Father] was stealing power from the neighbor, which [wa]s a fire hazard.’ ” When there was a leak in the apartment, Father would not let anyone in to fix it. The manager had received reports from other tenants in the complex that the child was seen ” ‘roaming around’ at 10 or 11 at night.”
Margarita, the neighbor, told the social worker that Father and M.D. had lived at the apartment complex for a long time. M.D. does not go to school and was left alone in the apartment ” ‘all day.’ ” When M.D. was about three years old, she started leaving the apartment through the front door while Father was asleep. Margarita noted Father would leave the apartment “at 9:00 p.m. to do things at night” and would return in the morning and sleep during the day. In May or June 2022, Father left M.D. alone for three consecutive days so Margarita took care of M.D. Whenever M.D. came knocking on her door, Margarita would bathe her and change her clothes because she had ” ‘bad hygiene,’ ” and cook her a meal because Father only had “water and snacks” in the apartment. Margarita has offered to help Father with M.D.⎯including by taking her to school or church, or assisting with her “basic needs“⎯but Father “does not accept the help.”
II.
Dependency Petition and Detention
On October 7, 2022, the Agency filed a petition on M.D.‘s behalf alleging two counts of failure to protect pursuant to
At the detention hearing in October 2022, the juvenile court made a prima facie finding on the petition, detained M.D. in out-of-home care, and granted Father liberal supervised visitation. The court also ordered family voluntary
III.
Jurisdiction and Disposition
The contested jurisdictional and dispositional hearing was held in January 2023. Without objection, the juvenile court received into evidence, the Agency‘s detention report (summarized in Section II, ante), the jurisdiction and disposition report, and various addendum reports.7 Counsel for Father elected to not cross-examine the social worker who was available at the hearing. Father testified on his behalf.
A. Additional Information from the Agency‘s Reports
1. M.D.‘s Progress
M.D. had been placed in the home of a nonrelative caregiver since October 5, 2022. When she arrived the first night, M.D. tried to leave the home through the bedroom window. The caregiver reported she needed to teach M.D. how to take a shower and brush her teeth “step-by-step.” M.D. needed “extensive” dental care, including fillings for cavities and three extractions. M.D. did not know she needed to wear underwear, had frequent toileting accidents, and would hide her soiled clothing in her dresser drawers.
The caregiver reported M.D. exhibited “food insecurity behaviors,” such as believing someone would take away her meals, worrying about not having enough to eat, and ” ‘shoving’ ” food into her mouth or eating too quickly to the point that she would almost choke. M.D. was “afraid” to eat at school because she worried she would not have enough money to eat with the other children. She told the caregiver that she ate “dog biscuit treats” while in Father‘s care and she was “fearful there would be worms in her food [because] there were times that there were worms in the family dog‘s food.”
By January 2023, M.D. continued to do well in the caregiver‘s home. The caregiver reported that M.D. said she did not want to go back and live with Father because she ” ‘ha[d] a nice room . . . and food’ ” at the caregiver‘s home and because the caregiver took her to school and the after-school program. M.D. told the caregiver, ” ‘I know if I go back with my dad he won‘t take me to school because it costs too much money.’ ” When the caregiver explained that school is free, M.D. said Father ” ‘lied to me about that too.’ ” M.D. had told the caregiver multiple times that Father did not have food and she ” ‘doesn‘t want to ever be hungry again.’ ”
2. Father‘s Progress
In November 2022, the Agency observed that Father‘s apartment was clean and organized, “[a]ll of the clutter, tools and miscellaneous scattered items had been removed“; there was dry food in the kitchen cabinets; and the electricity was working although the refrigerator was still inoperable. In December, Father informed the Agency he was able to maintain the electricity and the refrigerator was working; he painted the rooms, replaced tile, shampooed the carpet, and threw away unnecessary items like extra car parts.
The Agency referred Father to parenting education. Father completed an intake and started the “Safe Care Child and Infant Health Module.” But he was inconsistent. He attended five sessions, cancelled one session, and was a “No Show[ ]” for two sessions. When the Agency asked Father about his lack of progress, he told the social worker he had already completed the parenting program in the previous dependency case. The social worker explained that M.D. was significantly older now with different developmental needs and the parenting education is part of his case plan in this dependency case.
Father contacted a substance use specialist but failed to follow up with her as he was instructed to do. Father agreed to drug test on December 9, 2022 but did not show up for it.
On January 11, 2023, Father informed the Agency he was unable to follow up with any of his services because his car was towed and he did not have it for the last three weeks. At the time of the jurisdictional and dispositional hearing, Father had neither completed the parenting education, seen a substance use specialist, or contacted Dad‘s Club for group therapy.
Father had visits with M.D. on five occasions in November and December 2022. The caregiver reported the visits went “well” and Father was “engaged and appropriate” during the visits. M.D. described her visits with Father as ” ‘happy’ ” and ” ‘great,’ ” and expressed excitement to see him.
3. Information from Extended Family Members
The paternal grandmother informed the Agency “there were concerns for [M.D.] being by herself” and she reminded Father “he needed to check on [her] and give her something to eat.” She “worrie[d]” that Father ” ‘gets so involved with working on the cars that he forgets she is up in the apartment.” She had asked Father about M.D. not attending school and Father told her he was concerned his daughter might contract COVID. The paternal grandmother believed Father ” ‘trie[d] hard to keep it together for [M.D.‘s] sake and is committed to being a single dad,’ ” but he is “stubborn and [the family] give[s] him advice and suggestions and sometimes he will follow and sometimes he won‘t.”
The paternal great uncle had called the Agency a few months prior with concerns of ” ‘[b]asic[ ] neglect,’ ” including that M.D. was ” ‘left alone by herself during the day’ ” and she had never been in school despite being eight years old. He explained Father ” ‘was not financially able to provide services’ ” that M.D. needed and was overwhelmed and ” ‘too proud for whatever reason to reach out for help.’ ” He explained the situation was ” ‘common family knowledge’ ” and the family had offered Father opportunities to bring M.D. to Arizona, where paternal great uncle resided, and Father would have childcare from the aunt so he could work. But, according to the paternal great uncle, ” ‘[F]ather did not think that was acceptable.’ ”
4. The Agency‘s Concerns
The Agency recommended Father be offered family reunification services. It was concerned that Father “continually denie[d]” M.D. was left unattended
B. Father‘s Testimony
Father denied leaving M.D. home without supervision on October 5, 2022. But when asked what happened that day and whether he made arrangements for someone to supervise her, he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and declined to answer those questions because he had an ongoing criminal matter.8 He maintained, however, that M.D. “wasn‘t injured” and “wasn‘t in need of medical attention.”
C. Juvenile Court‘s Findings and Orders
Father asked the juvenile court to dismiss the petition, arguing the Agency had not met its burden of proving that M.D. needed the protection of the court. As to count 1, Father‘s counsel argued eight-year-old children are “frequently” left home alone briefly and are safe. M.D. was familiar with the people in the apartment complex and would go to them if she felt unsafe, and she had a dog with her which was “another added measure of protection should anybody confront” her. Counsel argued that although there was “not a lot of food” in the apartment, nothing indicated M.D. was “failing to thrive physically or starving or malnourished.” As to count 2, counsel argued the condition of the home did not present harm to M.D., the condition had since been ameliorated, and there was no allegation that M.D. was impacted in any way.
The juvenile court found both counts in the petition true by clear and convincing evidence and declared M.D. to be a child described by
As to disposition, Father asked that M.D. be returned to his care, or alternatively that he be granted unsupervised visitation. The Agency argued M.D. would not be safe with Father even for short unsupervised visits because he had still not engaged in services and did not recognize the safety issues. The juvenile court agreed Father needed to acknowledge that stable and appropriate housing is necessary for M.D. to feel safe, and he needed to demonstrate an ability to recognize the “stressors and trauma” that M.D. had been exhibiting. The court declared M.D. a juvenile court dependent and found by clear and convincing evidence that removal from Father‘s custody was appropriate under
DISCUSSION
I.
Substantial Evidence Supports the Jurisdictional Findings
Dependency jurisdiction may be assumed over a child and her parent under
“The relevant inquiry under
Effective January 1, 2023,
Although the statutory language is unambiguous, the legislative history of Senate Bill 1085 supports this interpretation.9 (See People v. Arias (2008) 45 Cal.4th 169, 177 [“If the statute is ambiguous, we may consider a variety of extrinsic aids, including legislative history, the statute‘s purpose, and public policy.“].) As the court noted in In re L.B., supra, 88 Cal.App.5th at page 413, review denied, Senate Bill 1085 added the indigency provision and grouped it with two other exclusions involving homelessness and the failure to obtain custody orders to protect a child into current
“A child shall not be found to be a person described by this subdivision solely due to any of the following: [¶] (A) Homelessness or the lack of an emergency shelter for the family. [¶] (B) The failure of the child‘s parent or
alleged parent to seek court orders for custody of the child. [¶] (C) Indigence or other conditions of financial difficulty, including, but not limited to, poverty, the inability to provide or obtain clothing, home or property repair, or childcare.” ( § 300, subd. (b)(2) .)
“Senate Bill 1085 makes clear that the three exceptions to jurisdiction under subdivision (b) are meant to be similarly construed: ‘Existing law prohibits a child from being found to be within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court [under subdivision (b)] solely due to the lack of an emergency shelter for the family or the failure of the child‘s parent or alleged parent to seek court orders for custody of the child. [¶] This bill would also prohibit a child from being found to be within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court [under subdivision (b)] solely due to indigence or other conditions of financial difficulty.’ (Legis. Counsel‘s Dig., Sen. Bill No. 1085 (2021–2022 Reg. Sess.); see also Assem.Com. on Judiciary, Analysis of Sen. Bill No. 1085 (2021–2022 Reg. Sess.) as amended June 9, 2022, pp. 5–6[.])” (In re L.B., at p. 415.)
In support of the bill, the National Association of Social Workers California Chapter wrote: “Currently, the definition of neglect is overly broad. It provides a social worker free reign to initiate the removal of a child from their parents for relatively minor circumstances relating to poverty. The definition in the [Welfare & Institutions Code] should be refined so that conditions such as a partially empty refrigerator, damaged furniture, or temporary inability to afford childcare while working a low wage job will not alone result in the removal of a child from their parents.” (Sen. Rules Com., Off. of Sen. Floor Analyses, Sen. Bill No. 1085 (2021–2022 Reg. Sess.) as amended June 9, 2022, p. 4.)
The Judiciary Analysis of Senate Bill 1085 further stated: “The author and sponsor of the bill report that, in practice, dependency jurisdiction has been exercised over children where their parents have been unable to afford items deemed necessary by a social worker, such as cough syrup. . . . The author, sponsor, and supporters thus believe it is important to clarify that conditions of poverty alone do not give a dependency court jurisdiction over a child.” (Assem. Com. on Judiciary, Analysis of Sen. Bill No. 1085 (2021–2022 Reg. Sess.) as amended June 9, 2022, p. 5; see ibid. [” ‘indigency, by itself, does not make one an unfit parent’ “].) The Judiciary Analysis further stated, “This bill sets forth legislative intent to clarify that it is harm to the child, not poverty, that can result in dependency court jurisdiction.” (Ibid., italics added.)
Relying on the newly added indigency provision, Father now asserts jurisdiction was improper because the conditions on which the juvenile court
“A jurisdictional finding that the minor is a person described in
The Agency alleged in count 1 of the petition that Father failed to adequately supervise or protect M.D., in that: “[T]he child was observed crawling in and out of the window of the home while her father was not present. She was also observed wandering, unsupervised in the apartment complex surrounding the home. The father was unable to be reached by phone for several hours after law enforcement made contact with the child. Further, the father has historically left the child unsupervised on several occasions for extended periods of time without arranging adult supervision, and instead, regularly relied upon the family dog to provide protection for the child.”
Substantial evidence in the record supports the juvenile court‘s finding that these allegations were true, and M.D. was a person described by
The potential for serious physical harm that is created when an eight-year-old child is so abjectly disregarded was easily observed in M.D.‘s case. Deprived of adult supervision, she repeatedly left her confines and roamed around alone, including late at night. The physical dangers inherent in this scenario are self-evident—and yet Father did not seem to apprehend them. Paternal grandmother believed he simply forgot his daughter was in the apartment. When confronted by the social worker, Father insisted M.D. was not in danger when left alone because the dog was protecting her. Father refused offers of help and would not accept his family‘s proposed childcare opportunities. He simply denied neglecting M.D. or leaving her unattended. He did not believe he needed parenting classes, did not complete them, and did not avail himself of the substance abuse specialist or group therapy services provided by the Agency. The foregoing facts were documented in the record and served as substantial evidence Father did not accept, appreciate, or understand M.D.‘s need for adult supervision and protection, or his corresponding obligation to attend to that need. That in turn supports the conclusion the risk of harm created by Father‘s failure to provide adequate
supervision and protection of M.D. continued to exist at the time of the jurisdictional hearing.
Although we could affirm the juvenile court‘s finding of jurisdiction on the basis of count 1 alone (see In re Alexis E. (2009) 171 Cal.App.4th 438, 451 [“[w]hen a dependency petition alleges multiple grounds for its assertion that a minor comes within the dependency court‘s jurisdiction, a reviewing court can affirm the juvenile court‘s finding of jurisdiction over the minor if any one of the statutory bases for jurisdiction that are enumerated in the petition is supported by substantial evidence“]; accord Randi R. v. Superior Court (1998) 64 Cal.App.4th 67, 72; In re Jonathan B. (1992) 5 Cal.App.4th 873, 875-876), we also conclude substantial evidence supports count 2 of
The police officers who entered Father‘s apartment after finding M.D. roaming the complex unsupervised found she was living in filth. We have already summarized their vivid descriptions of a foul-smelling apartment strewn with “hordes of trash,” car parts, electrical cords, and tools; a patio filled with dog feces; and an empty inoperable refrigerator. There was dry food on the shelves, but none of it had been prepared. M.D.‘s statements to the social worker, and the observations of her caretaker, showed that M.D., left to fend for herself, had taken to eating dog biscuits. In addition to developing generalized food anxiety, she had developed a specific fear her food would be infected with worms like the ones she saw in her dog‘s dish.
Father argues the Agency presented no evidence the foregoing conditions were attributable to his willful or negligent conduct. We disagree. Piles of dog feces; “hordes” of trash; a pervasive stench; worms in the dog‘s dish: these are conditions that accumulate with time and inattention. Father lived in these surroundings with his daughter and was necessarily aware of them. There was no evidence he was physically incapable of cleaning; instead, the record reflected that he regularly repaired cars, which suggests he was able-bodied. Yet he had plainly failed to take even minimal steps to clean the living space in which he was raising his daughter, to the point that it had deteriorated to an unsafe state by the time he was contacted by law enforcement. The record further supports the inference Father chose to confine M.D. in this unhygienic environment, without access to prepared food, despite offers of help from his family and at least one neighbor. Given these circumstances, the court could reasonably conclude Father was failing to provide M.D. with adequate shelter and food, exposing her to a substantial risk of serious physical harm or illness, and that this failure was attributable, at a minimum, to Father‘s negligence.
Before the jurisdictional and dispositional hearing, Father reported that certain conditions in the apartment had been corrected. However, the record supports the view his underlying parenting issues remained unaddressed. His repeated denials that he had left M.D. alone without food or electricity, and his failure to take advantage of services offered to him or even to understand
Father does not dispute that he left M.D. unsupervised on more than one occasion, that his apartment was in a deplorable and unsafe state when M.D. was encountered by law enforcement, or that M.D. lacked consistent access to food. He maintains, however, that new subdivision (b)(2)(C) of
We are not insensitive to Father‘s claims. The effects of poverty are manifold, and we can appreciate how an increase in income can help mitigate the difficulties a parent encounters in the course of raising a child. In this case, however, we disagree that the record supports the inference Father‘s indigence was the only condition that exposed M.D. to harm. Instead, his failure to adequately protect and supervise M.D. and provide her a safe home was attributable to his negligent disregard for her basic needs. Interviews of his family and neighbors revealed he resisted offers of childcare help. When confronted by the social worker, he insisted a dog was adequate protection for M.D. He did not lack for food: there was dry food in the apartment, but he did not prepare it. M.D.‘s testimony about eating dog biscuits supports the inference Father was able to buy food for the dog and thus prioritized food for the dog over ensuring appropriate food was available to M.D. The squalid condition of Father‘s apartment was attributable to his inexcusable neglect of M.D.‘s needs and hygiene rather than his financial situation.
Further still, Father‘s insistence that M.D.‘s educational needs were being adequately addressed was belied by evidence that at eight years old, she
As Father noted, the legislative intent behind Senate Bill 1085 was, in part, to ensure the Agency offer families reasonable services to prevent juvenile court intervention. Senate Bill 1085 added subdivision (b) to
But the Legislature also provided an important caveat. It made clear that “[c]onsistent with existing law, no family should be subject to the jurisdiction of the juvenile court nor should children be separated from their parents based on conditions of financial difficulty unless there is willful or negligent action or failure to act and a nexus to harm such that the child has suffered or there is a substantial risk the child will suffer serious physical harm or illness.” (
Here, the evidence before the court supported the conclusion that the harm to M.D. was the result of Father negligently failing to recognize and respond to M.D.‘s most basic needs, and the risk of that harm continued at
II.
Substantial Evidence Supports the Dispositional Order
Next, Father challenges the dispositional order removing M.D. from his custody on the ground it is not supported by substantial evidence. He advances three arguments. First, he contends that because there is insufficient evidence to support jurisdiction, there is also insufficient evidence to support the dispositional order removing M.D. from his custody under
After a juvenile court exercises jurisdiction over a child pursuant to
Section 361 provides in pertinent part: “A dependent child shall not be taken from the physical custody of his or her parents . . . unless the juvenile court finds clear and convincing evidence” that “[t]here is or would be a substantial danger to the physical health, safety, protection, or physical or emotional well-being of the minor if the minor were returned home, and there are no reasonable means by which the minor‘s physical health can be protected without removing the minor from the minor‘s parent‘s . . . physical custody.” (
“In determining whether a child may be safely maintained in the parent‘s physical custody, the juvenile court may consider the parent‘s past conduct and current circumstances, and the parent‘s response to the conditions that gave rise to juvenile court intervention.” (In re D.B. (2018) 26 Cal.App.5th 320, 332.) “The parent need not be dangerous and the minor need not have been actually harmed before removal
We review a removal order for substantial evidence. (In re V.L. (2020) 54 Cal.App.5th 147, 154.) Substantial evidence is evidence that is reasonable, credible, and of solid value. (Ibid.) Because
Turning to Father‘s second argument, we disagree with his characterization of the removal order as based on “[s]peculat[ion] about the risks that Father may pose[.]” In ordering removal, the juvenile court found Father‘s failure to provide appropriate care was “terribly traumatic” for M.D., that Father still needed to gain insight into how to provide M.D. the structure she required in order to feel safe, and that he needed to demonstrate the ability to recognize the trauma M.D. had been “exhibiting.” As we have already discussed, the evidence before the court showed eight-year-old M.D. was repeatedly left alone and unsupervised, in conditions that led to her wandering the complex unsupervised, including late at night. Even when she was supervised by Father, his care was egregiously deficient; in addition to leaving M.D. to subsist in filth, the record supports the inference she had not been taught matters of basic hygiene, such as how to brush her teeth. A factfinder could reasonably conclude, based on the evidence of Father‘s habitual parenting practices, coupled with his ongoing denial and lack of insight, that it was
Moreover, despite the seriousness of his shortcomings as a parent, Father was unable to understand why he was being reoffered parenting classes. He not only failed to take full advantage of the services offered to him, but he showed no interest in doing so. (See In re E.E. (2020) 49 Cal.App.5th 195, 217 [trial court may consider the parent‘s unwillingness to comply with Agency attempts to provide assessments and services geared towards making reunification possible].) This case is not like M.G. v. Superior Court (2020) 46 Cal.App.5th 646, 662, which Father cites for the proposition that a “hunch” about safety concerns is insufficient to support removal. Here, unlike M.G., the Agency articulated specific reasons why M.D. would be at risk if returned to Father‘s care. (Cf. id. at pp. 661–662.) Thus we reject Father‘s contention that the removal order was based on speculation and conclude instead that it was supported by substantial evidence in the record.
Father‘s third and last challenge to the dispositional order is that referrals for childcare, meals assistance, and “related family-maintenance services” (boldface and capitalization omitted) were reasonable means of protecting M.D. without removing her from his care. We disagree that the record supports the view these services were a reasonable alternative to removal in this case. As we have discussed, before the court removes a child from parental custody, it must find there are no reasonable means by which the child‘s physical health can be protected without removal. (See
In summary, substantial evidence supports the juvenile court‘s findings, under a clear and convincing standard, that there would be a risk of danger to M.D. if she were returned to Father‘s custody, and that there were no reasonable means to protect her other than removal from Father‘s custody.
DISPOSITION
The juvenile court‘s January 13, 2023 order is affirmed.
DO, J.
WE CONCUR:
McCONNELL, P. J.
BUCHANAN, J.