In Re Ac

65 Cal.Rptr.3d 767 (2007) 155 Cal.App.4th 282 In re A.C. et al., Persons Coming Under the Juvenile Court Law.

Sacramento County Department of Health and Human Services, Plaintiff and Respondent,

v.

Curtis C. et al., Defendants and Appellants.

No. C054642. Court of Appeal of California, Third District.

August 21, 2007. David M. Thompson, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant Anisha H.

Konrad S. Lee, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant Curtis C.

Robert A. Ryan, Jr., County Counsel, and Carol F. Pulido, Deputy County Counsel, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

Certified for Partial Publication.[*]

ROBIE, J.

Anisha H., mother of the minors, and Curtis C, father of A.C., appeal from orders denying the mother's petition for modification and terminating parental rights. The father contends the juvenile court abused its discretion in denying his request for a continuance to permit him to [768] file a petition for modification. The mother argues the juvenile court abused its discretion in denying her petition for modification. The mother also asserts it was error in failing to give notice of the proceedings to a nonfederally recognized tribe and her trial counsel provided inadequate representation in failing to raise the issue. We affirm.

FACTS

The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) filed a petition to remove A. C, age 2, and A. H., age 5, from parental custody in July 2005, due to the parents' domestic violence in the minors' presence, the mother's substance abuse problems, and her failure to comply with an informal supervision plan. The juvenile court sustained the petition and adopted a reunification plan for the parents.

At a hearing in August 2005, information was provided to the court that A.H. may have Indian ancestry. A DHHS paralegal spoke with the minor's paternal grandfather who stated he was Mashpee Wampanoag. The tribe was not a federally recognized tribe but, according to the tribe's Web site, an application for recognition was pending and a final determination was expected in March 2007. No notice was sent to the tribe.