In re Gabriel K. CA1/2

Filed 9/11/20 In re Gabriel K. CA1/2 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION TWO

In re GABRIEL K., a Person Coming Under the Juvenile Court Law.

ALAMEDA COUNTY SOCIAL SERVICES AGENCY, Plaintiff and Respondent, A159108 v. (Alameda County J.G., Super. Ct. No. JD028001202) Defendant and Appellant.

J.G.(mother) appeals an order terminating her parental rights over her four-year-old son, Gabriel K., contending only that the juvenile court erred in declining to apply the parental benefit exception. (See Welf. & Inst. Code, § 366.26, subd. (c)(1)(B)(i).1) We affirm. BACKGROUND These proceedings were commenced on January 9, 2017, when Gabriel was nine months old, after mother was arrested for engaging in prostitution and police found Gabriel sitting in a car next to a backpack containing

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

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marijuana and a loaded gun.2 The baby was removed from mother’s custody, detained and declared a dependent of the court. Thereafter, mother received reunification services which were terminated on May 7, 2019 (about five months after father’s), and the matter was set for a section 366.26 hearing. By that juncture, she had only just begun to have unsupervised visits (in March 2019), and she had never progressed to overnight visits because she’d been inconsistent in being on time and prepared for visits. Once her unsupervised visits began, she was almost always late to pick up and drop off her son, frequently by one to two hours. After her reunification services were terminated, mother didn’t visit her son at all for the next three months, until early August.3 On June 27, about a month and a half into this period, she was hospitalized for several days after trying to harm herself, and her infant daughter (Gabriel’s half- sister) was removed from her custody, detained and placed into foster care. As a result of the incident, the juvenile court authorized the Alameda County Social Services Agency (“Agency”) to supervise mother’s weekly visitation, and also warned mother’s visitation could be reduced to once per month if she missed two consecutive visits. After several continuances, the contested section 366.26 hearing began on November 20, 2019. By this time, Gabriel was nearly four years old, and had been living with his maternal grandparents for more than two years,