In re B.P. CA3

Filed 9/8/20 In re B.P. CA3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published,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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 (San Joaquin) ----

In re B.P. et al., Persons Coming Under the Juvenile C090983 Court Law.

SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY HUMAN SERVICES (Super. Ct. No. AGENCY, STKJVDP20180000297)

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v.

B.M.,

Defendant and Appellant.

Mother B.M. appeals from the juvenile court’s orders terminating parental rights and freeing both minors for adoption. (Welf. & Inst. Code, §§ 366.26, 395.)1 She contends the San Joaquin County Human Services Agency (Agency) and juvenile court failed to comply with the inquiry and notice requirements of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) because the Agency did not provide adequate notice of the proceedings to the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, a tribe in which the paternal grandfather is an enrolled

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

1

member. (25 U.S.C. § 1901 et seq.) We conditionally reverse and remand the matter for further ICWA compliance. BACKGROUND Our recitation of the background is limited to facts relevant to mother’s ICWA contention. The Agency filed section 300 petitions on behalf of the minors on August 13, 2018. At the August 14, 2018 detention hearing, mother reported Native American ancestry through the Cherokee and Blackfoot tribes. The paternal grandfather had contacted the Agency prior to the detention hearing and informed the Agency that he is a registered member of the Caddo Indian Tribe located in Oklahoma, that the paternal great-grandmother registered him as a child, and that he periodically received a check from the tribe. At the August 28, 2018 continued detention hearing, the paternal grandfather filed an ICWA-020 form stating that the father had Native American heritage through the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma (Caddo Nation) and that he, the grandfather, was a member of that tribe. On September 11, 2018, the Agency sent a Notice of Child Custody Proceeding, ICWA-030, to three Cherokee tribes and to the Blackfeet Tribe and the Caddo Nation. The notice was for an ICWA hearing on November 27, 2018, that did not take place. The notice included the grandfather’s enrollment number but stated “no information available” concerning the father’s enrollment status. At the time the notice was sent, the designated agent for service of the notice for the Caddo Nation was Pamela Satepauhoodle, ICWA Caseworker, P.O. Box 729, Anadarko, OK 73005. (83 Fed. Reg. 25685, 25711, pub. June 4, 2018.) However, the notice mailed to the Caddo Nation was addressed to the chairman of the tribe in Binger, Oklahoma. Although the name of the person signing the return receipt for the document is not entirely legible, the name appears to be Elizabeth. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, and the Cherokee Nation each responded that neither child was eligible for