In re K.G. CA2/5

Filed 10/19/20 In re K.G. CA2/5 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 K.G., A Person Coming B302626 Under Juvenile Court Law. _______________________________ (Los Angeles County Super. LOS ANGELES COUNTY Ct. No. 19CCJP06160B) DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES,

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v.

LESTER S.,

Defendant and Appellant;

Christa G.,

Respondent.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Rashida Adams, Judge. Affirmed. Jamie A. Moran, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant Lester S. Annie Greenleaf, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Plaintiff and Respondent, Christa G. ________________________

Lester S. (father) appeals from the juvenile court’s assertion of jurisdiction over his infant daughter. He argues the court erred in denying him nonstatutory presumed father status. We disagree and affirm.1 FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND In September 2019, daughter was born with a positive toxicology screening for methamphetamines and amphetamines. The Department of Children and Family Services (Department) filed a petition alleging mother had a history of substance abuse and had tested positive for drugs at daughter’s birth. The petition further alleged that father had failed to protect daughter from mother’s substance abuse. The juvenile court detained daughter from both parents, and ordered monitored visitation for mother. Father did not appear at the detention hearing because he was in jail. He appeared at a subsequent arraignment hearing and requested presumed father status. He stated he had held himself out openly as the child’s father. The court deferred paternity findings. At the jurisdiction hearing in November 2019, father was still in custody and was not present. Mother, who was not married to father, testified she believed father was daughter’s biological father. Mother and father had lived together for a year and a half, including the first seven months of her pregnancy. The parents stopped living together when father was arrested in August 2019. Father had never met daughter. The court also received evidence that father was not on daughter’s birth