In Re Dorothy I.

California Court of Appeal Nov 29, 1984 No. B004398Published

Before: Hastings

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Holding. The court held that a juvenile court may properly exercise jurisdiction over a minor based on a 'sibling petition' involving evidence of a parent's prior sexual abuse of another child, and that such evidence is admissible to determine the parent's predisposition toward future abuse.

Issues

Whether a juvenile court may exercise jurisdiction over a minor based solely on evidence of a parent's prior sexual misconduct with a sibling.
Whether evidence of a parent's prior sexual abuse of another child is admissible in a dependency proceeding to assess the risk of future harm to the minor.

Disposition. affirmed

Quotations verified verbatim against the opinion

“The state may intervene to protect a minor when the minor's sibling has been mistreated.”

“We conclude that the court properly retained jurisdiction based upon the second count of the amended petition even though the first count had been dismissed.”

“In our present case the character evidence is not being used to prove a charge of past conduct against appellant, but is being used in helping the court determine his predisposition toward future sexual abuse with the minor Dorothy.”

162 Cal.App.3d 1154 (1984) 209 Cal. Rptr. 5 In re DOROTHY I., a Person Coming Under the Juvenile Court Law.

LOS ANGELES COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SOCIAL SERVICES, Plaintiff and Respondent,

ROBERT I., Defendant and Appellant.

Docket No. B004398. Court of Appeals of California, Second District, Division Five.

November 29, 1984. [1155] COUNSEL

Anthony P. Brooklier and Marks & Brooklier for Defendant and Appellant.

De Witt W. Clinton, County Counsel, and David F. Skjeie, Deputy County Counsel, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

[1156] OPINION

HASTINGS, J.

The juvenile court found the minor, three-year-old Dorothy I., to be a dependent child of the court under Welfare and Institutions Code section 300, subdivisions (a) and (d). Dorothy was removed from the custody of appellant, her father, and placed with her stepmother, Joanne I.

The original petition filed with the juvenile court alleged that appellant had sexually molested Dorothy and another child, appellant's step-grand-daughter. Subsequently, a filed amended petition added a second count alleging appellant had molested Diane G., Dorothy's half-sister, at the age of nine or ten. Diane G. was an adult at the time of the amendment. On the day of the trial counsel for the County of Los Angeles dismissed count I and proceeded to trial on the allegations of count II which were used to prove the requirements of section 300, subdivisions (a) and (d).

At the conclusion of trial, the court amended the petition to conform to proof, sustained the further amended petition, and made additional findings of fact.

The court found that:

In Re Dorothy I.

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HASTINGS, J.

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