In re Matthew P. CA2/5

Filed 9/10/20 In re Matthew P. CA2/5 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 FIVE

In re MATTHEW P., et al., B298103 Persons Coming Under Juvenile Court Law. (Los Angeles County Super. _______________________________ Ct. Nos. 18CCJP08047A and LOS ANGELES COUNTY 18CCJP08047B) DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES,

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v.

A.P., et al.,

Defendants and Appellants.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Emma Castro, Referee. Affirmed. Joseph T. Tavano, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant A.P. Robert McLaughlin, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant D.P. Mary C. Wickham, County Counsel, Kristine P. Miles, Assistant County Counsel, and Peter Ferrera, Deputy County Counsel, for Plaintiff and Respondent. ________________________

Mother and father appeal from the juvenile court’s dispositional order removing their 14-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter from parental custody. Father argues that evidence he sexually abused several other children and had involved father’s older son in the abuse was insufficient to show that his younger children were at risk of abuse. During the pendency of the appeal, the children were returned to mother’s custody, and the Department of Children and Family Services (Department) argued her challenge to the removal order was now moot. We agree and dismiss her appeal. We affirm as to father. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND Mother and father have three children: an 18-year-old son (older son), and the two children at issue in this petition, younger son and daughter. In December 2018, the Department received a referral alleging the police were investigating father for sexually abusing children at the daycare he and mother ran. A two-year- old girl who attended the daycare told law enforcement that father had touched her vagina and it hurt. The child’s grandmother told the Department that the two year old had returned multiple times from daycare with her vagina inflamed. An investigation of the daycare found an immediate risk to the safety of the children there; mother’s license to provide daycare was suspended. When a social worker interviewed daughter, daughter said she believed father had sexually abused the two-year-old girl at the family daycare. Daughter said she had seen mother standing by the door of a bedroom while father and the two-year-old girl were inside. Daughter heard screaming and crying coming from inside the room. Father then came out of the door with a diaper in his hand and gave it to mother who threw it away. Daughter