In re Luna A. CA2/4

Filed 1/22/16 In re Luna A. CA2/4 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 LUNA A., A Person Coming Under B261761 Juvenile Court Law. (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. DK06309) LOS ANGELES COUNTY DEPARTMENT OFCHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES,

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v.

FRANCIS A.,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Marilyn Kading Martinez, Commissioner. Affirmed. Frank H. Free, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Mary C. Wickam, County Counsel, and Navid Nakhjavani, Deputy County Counsel, for Plaintiff and Respondent. Suzanne M. Davidson, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Minor.

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Appellant Francis A. (father) appeals from an order denying him visitation with his daughter Luna A. Finding no abuse of discretion, we affirm the order.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL SUMMARY Father and mother, I.W., have one child together, Luna. Luna was born in August 2013 and lived with mother and her two half-siblings. Father occasionally stayed with them. Luna came to the attention of the Department of Children and Family Services (department) in response to a domestic violence incident between father and mother on April 14, 2014. Father and mother were engaged in a verbal altercation, when father, who was holding Luna, kicked the door to mother’s house and shoved mother. Mother reported to law enforcement that this was not an isolated incident of domestic violence; rather father had assaulted her on numerous occasions over the past four years. During the social worker’s investigation, Luna’s sibling Lucia denied any abuse by mother or father but said that when her mother was pregnant with Luna, father “‘squished [Lucia] in his legs and threw [her] around the bed with his legs. [She] cried after he threw [her]. It hurt [her].’” Mother signed a safety plan with the department, agreeing to obtain a restraining order against father and not allow father into her home. On July 9, 2014, the court granted the department a removal order to detain Luna from mother and father. Subsequently, the department filed a Welfare and Institutions 1 Code section 300 petition alleging Luna was at risk of serious physical harm. The department cited as reasons for continued detention the April 14, 2014 domestic violence incident between father and mother, an altercation father had with the maternal grandmother, and mother’s failure to comply with the safety plan; mother did not obtain a restraining order against father, continued to allow him to reside in her home, and minimized the severity of the incidents of domestic violence between her and father. Luna was placed with her godmother and maternal aunt, Susan G. At the July 14, 2014 detention hearing, the court found a prima facie case for the detention. Father was denied