In re D.H. CA3

Filed 10/31/14 In re D.H. CA3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT (Sacramento) ----

In re D.H., a Person Coming Under the Juvenile Court C075530 Law.

SACRAMENTO COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF (Super. Ct. No. JD233963) HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES,

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v.

C.H.,

Defendant and Appellant.

C.H., mother of the minor D.H., appeals from the juvenile court’s dispositional order removing the minor from her custody. (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 395.)1 She contends (1) the juvenile court lacked jurisdiction because she was willing to place the minor with an appropriate caretaker, and (2) the juvenile court’s disposition should be reversed

1 Undesignated statutory references are to the Welfare and Institutions Code.

1

because inadequate notice was given to the Indian tribes pursuant to the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). (25 U.S.C. § 1901 et seq.) We conclude (1) the parents’ willingness to place the minor with a caretaker is irrelevant to the court’s jurisdictional inquiry, and (2) the record exposes no error in the notice sent to the Indian tribes. Therefore, we affirm the juvenile court’s order and judgment. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND A. Basis for Jurisdiction The Sacramento County Department of Health and Human Services (the Department) successfully petitioned the juvenile court, pursuant to section 300, alleging that the minor comes within the jurisdiction of the court because he has or will suffer serious physical harm or illness as a result of his parents’ failure or inability to supervise or protect him and because of the parents’ inability to provide regular care for him due to their own mental illnesses. Specifically, it was alleged the mother has several mental illnesses that impair her judgment and ability to care for the minor and that have caused her to be involuntarily hospitalized repeatedly. It was also alleged the father, D.S., failed to protect the minor, though he knew or should have known that mother’s mental illnesses impaired her ability to care for the minor, and that father’s own mental illness impairs his ability to care for the minor.2 In support of the petition, the Department presented a jurisdiction and disposition report, which provided the following additional information: Child Protective Services received a referral from El Dorado County based on a report that mother was behaving bizarrely and erratically: the primary concerns were that mother believed the five-month-old minor was talking to her, and she continued to breastfeed, though she was no longer eating or sleeping, thereby preventing the minor