In Re Maria

California Court of Appeal May 7, 1985 No. 31331Published

Before: Wiener

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Holding. The trial court did not err by conducting an in camera review of confidential juvenile and adoption files to determine the relevance of documents for discovery purposes in a freedom from custody and control proceeding.

Issues

Whether a trial court's in camera inspection of confidential juvenile and adoption files to determine discoverable information violates a parent's due process rights.
Whether the court abused its discretion in limiting a parent's counsel to access only relevant portions of confidential county files.

Disposition. affirmed

Quotations verified verbatim against the opinion

“The court's in camera procedure was the way to resolve the conflict between Elizabeth's right to a full evidentiary hearing on her request for alternative placement of Maria and the rights of Richard and others to the confidentiality”

“The court properly released those portions of the file relating to the fitness of the mother and grandmother and the appropriateness of the grandmother's home as an alternative placement. Elizabeth was not denied due process.”

167 Cal.App.3d 1099 (1985) 213 Cal. Rptr. 733 In re MARIA V., a Minor.

SAN DIEGO COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES, Petitioner and Respondent,

ELIZABETH V., Objector and Appellant.

Docket No. 31331. Court of Appeals of California, Fourth District, Division One.

May 7, 1985. [1101] COUNSEL

Alden J. Fulkerson, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Objector and Appellant.

Lloyd M. Harmon, Jr., County Counsel, Howard P. Brody, Chief Deputy County Counsel, and Barbara Baird, Deputy County Counsel, for Petitioner and Respondent.

OPINION

WIENER, J.

Elizabeth V. appeals the judgment freeing her three-year-old daughter Maria (Maria) from her custody and control. (Civ. Code, § 232.)[1] The court found Elizabeth had abandoned Maria and failed to provide an adequate parental relationship. The court rejected Elizabeth's alternative plan to place Maria with her maternal grandmother.

The primary focus of this appeal is directed to the court's decision to limit Elizabeth's lawyer's inspection of documents from two files maintained by the county to those documents which the court determined were relevant to the action. Elizabeth says it is only her lawyer who can determine whether the documents are relevant. She asserts the court's in camera inspection of the files to determine which portions were relevant and, therefore, discoverable by her counsel was prejudicial error. Although we are sensitive to the fundamental interests involved in this type of proceeding, we conclude otherwise and affirm the judgment.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

The petition for freedom from custody and control (FFCC) was filed when Maria was three-years-old and after she had been living in a foster home for about two and one-half years.

In Re Maria

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OPINION

WIENER, J.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

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DISCUSSION

NOTES

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