C.D. v. Superior Court CA4/3

Filed 1/5/26 C.D. v. Superior Court CA4/3

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION THREE

C.D. et al., G066000

Petitioners, (Super. Ct. Nos. 23DP0497, 23DP0497A, 23DP0498, v. 23DP0498A, 23DP1118)

THE SUPERIOR COURT OF OPINION ORANGE COUNTY,

Respondent;

ORANGE COUNTY SOCIAL SERVICES AGENCY et al.,

Real Parties in Interest.

Original proceedings; petitions for a writ of mandate to challenge orders of the Superior Court of Orange County, Daphne Grace Sykes, Judge. Petitions denied. Sunny Dillon, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Petitioner C.D. Sara Nakada, Public Defender, and Brian Okamoto, Deputy Public Defender, for Petitioner A.L.

No appearance by Respondent. Leon J. Page, County Counsel, Debbie Torrez and Aurelio Torre, Deputy County Counsel, for Real Party in Interest Orange County Social Services Agency. No appearance for the Minors. * * * A.L. (Father) and C.D. (Mother) petition for a writ of mandate overturning an order terminating family reunification services and setting a permanency plan hearing. The parents contend the court wrongly decided to exclude the testimony of their eldest child, A.A., at a status review hearing. We discern no abuse of discretion and deny the petitions. FACTS I. THE PARENTS’ DOMESTIC VIOLENCE TAKES AN EMOTIONAL TOLL ON A.A. This family has a long history of violence. Father was arrested in 2017 for physically abusing Mother. (In re A.A. (Dec. 16, 2022, E078449) [nonpub. opn.].) Mother obtained a protective order against Father in 2020, who was later convicted of domestic battery. In 2023, in the presence their children, the parents engaged in three “‘brawl[s]’” with other adults in the home. In the third brawl, Mother put her youngest “child down at an unknown location and continued fighting with [a] 17-year-old minor.” “[T]he mother and the minor sustained multiple injuries” and “[F]ather also sustained several injuries including cuts and bruises and was unable to open one of his eyes because of the swelling.” That same year, a fellow tenant “removed the parent’s bedroom door because the father had broken it during a domestic dispute[] between him and the mother.”