In Re Sylvia R.

55 Cal.App.4th 559 (1997) In re SYLVIA R. et al., Persons Coming Under the Juvenile Court Law.

ORANGE COUNTY SOCIAL SERVICES AGENCY, Plaintiff and Respondent,

v.

DIANA L. et al., Defendants and Appellants.

Docket No. G019824. Court of Appeals of California, Fourth District, Division Three.

June 3, 1997. [561] COUNSEL

Jane Winer and Sylvia L. Paoli, under appointments by the Court of Appeal, for Defendants and Appellants.

Laurence M. Watson, County Counsel, and Ward Brady, Deputy County Counsel, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

Michael D. Randall, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Minors.

OPINION

SILLS, P.J.

In May 1994, five-month-old Sylvia and one-and-one-half-year-old Michelle were taken into custody after their mother, Diana, was arrested for child endangerment and possession of illegal drugs. The father, Octavio, was not living with the children at the time. In September 1994, the children became dependents of the juvenile court after dependency petitions were sustained based on the mother's arrest and neglect, and the father's failure to have protected the children from that neglect.

Octavio had been arrested for spousal abuse in 1991. In October 1995, about two months prior to the eighteen-month review, he was arrested for spousal abuse again, after a physical altercation with Diana. The 18-month review was held in early January 1996. Reunification services were terminated and the case was set for a permanency planning hearing under section [562] 366.26 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.[1] In mid-January 1996, however, the Orange County District Attorney's office, for a reason not disclosed in the record, dismissed the spousal abuse charges against Octavio.