In re C.K. CA2/4

Filed 6/17/15 In re C.K. CA2/4 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION FOUR

In re C.K. et al., Persons Coming Under the B259834 Juvenile Court Law. ___________________________________ (Los Angeles County LOS ANGELES COUNTY Super. Ct. No. DK05107) DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES,

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v.

M.M.,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Tony Richardson, Judge. Modified and affirmed. Kate M. Chandler, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Mark J. Saladino, County Counsel, Dawyn R. Harrison, Assistant County Counsel, Sarah Vesecky, Deputy County Counsel, for Plaintiff and Respondent. ______________________________

M.M. (mother) challenges the juvenile court’s jurisdictional and dispositional order regarding her sons C.K. (born in 2002) and J.K. (born in 2004). Specifically, she argues the fact that her live-in male companion, A.M., was a registered sex offender is insufficient to establish jurisdiction. We agree and modify the order to strike the allegations based on A.M.’s status as a registered sex offender. In all other respects, the order is affirmed.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL SUMMARY The family has had an extensive dependency history, with numerous referrals against mother and the children’s father, D.K., and a voluntary family maintenance case in 2004 to address the parents’ substance abuse issues. Based on a 2013 family law order, the children lived with father, and visited mother during school breaks. In March 2014, mother’s live-in companion, A.M., was arrested for hitting mother in the face during an altercation while the children were in the home. During the subsequent investigation by the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), mother tested positive for amphetamines and methamphetamines. DCFS also discovered that A.M. was a registered sex offender. He was arrested in 1991 for rape by force, kidnapping, robbery, and assault with a deadly weapon, not a firearm. He was convicted of rape by force under Penal Code section 261 and was sentenced to eight years in prison; the other charges were dropped. Since then, A.M. had had several arrests and convictions for domestic violence. In 2010, he had been convicted of failing to register as a sex offender. Mother had let A.M. stay with her for about a year because he was homeless, and there was evidence she had left the children alone with him on at least two occasions. The children reported they did not like A.M. because he was “mean” to them and their mother, but they denied that he had abused them physically or sexually.