In re Bella L.

Filed 1/20/26 CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION FIVE

In re BELLA L. et al., Persons B348279 Coming Under the Juvenile Court Law. (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. 22CCJP02864A-B) LOS ANGELES COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES,

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v.

SUEMI P. et al.,

Defendants and Appellants.

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Nancy Ramirez, Judge. Affirmed.

Carolyn S. Hurley, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant Suemi P.

John B. Ekenes, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant Diego L.

Dawyn R. Harrison, County Counsel, Kim Nemoy, Assistant County Counsel, and William D. Thetford, Principal Deputy County Counsel, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

****** In In re Dezi C. (2024) 16 Cal.5th 1112, 1140-1141 (Dezi C.), our Supreme Court held that a juvenile court’s finding that a social service agency conducted an adequate initial inquiry into whether a dependent child is an “Indian child” within the meaning of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) (25 U.S.C. § 1901 et seq.; Welf. & Inst. Code, § 224 et seq.1) would be affirmed as long as that finding was supported by substantial evidence, “even if the agency did not inquire of everyone who has an interest in the child” (Dezi C., at p. 1141). Is a finding that an initial inquiry was adequate supported by substantive evidence when the agency inquires of the parents and seven extended family members on the child’s paternal side but fails to inquire of the paternal grandfather? We hold that it is, and affirm the order terminating the parents’ parental rights.

1 All further statutory references are to the Welfare and Institutions Code unless otherwise indicated.

2

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND2 I. The Family Suemi P. (mother) and Diego L. (father) have two children relevant to this appeal—namely, Bella L. (born June 2018) and Emma L. (born April 2022) (collectively, “the children”).3 II. Section 300 Petition and Initial ICWA Inquiry On July 25, 2022, the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (the Department) filed a petition asking the juvenile court to exert dependency jurisdiction over the children under section 300, subdivision (b)(1) due to father’s domestic violence against mother and mother’s failure to protect the children from that violence.4 The day after the petition was filed, mother and father each filed ICWA-020 forms in which they denied knowledge of any Native American heritage, and the juvenile court held an initial hearing on the petition and removed the children from the parents’ custody. At that hearing, the court acknowledged the parents’ responses on their ICWA-020 forms; informed the parents “to notify their attorney, the social worker, and the court”