In re A.P. CA3

Filed 7/19/21 In re A.P. CA3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published,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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 A. P., a Person Coming Under the Juvenile Court C092356 Law.

SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY HUMAN SERVICES (Super. Ct. No. AGENCY, STKJVDP20190000179 )

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v.

D. P. et al.,

Defendants and Appellants.

Appellant D. P. (father) and appellant T. S. (mother) (collectively, appellants), appeal from the juvenile court’s orders terminating parental rights and freeing the minor for adoption. (Welf. & Inst. Code,1 §§ 366.26, 395.) Appellants’ sole contention on

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

1

appeal is that the San Joaquin County Human Services Agency (Agency) and the juvenile court failed to comply with the inquiry and notice requirements of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) because the Agency did not adequately inquire into information that the minor may have Native American heritage. (25 U.S.C. § 1901 et seq.; § 224.2.) We conditionally reverse and remand the matter for limited proceedings to ensure ICWA compliance. BACKGROUND The underlying facts of the dependency are not at issue and we do not recite them. We limit our recitation of the background to those facts relevant to the ICWA inquiry and noticing requirements. On May 1, 2019, the Agency filed a petition pursuant to section 300, subdivisions (b)(1) and (j) in regard to the minor, A. P. Mother denied having any Indian heritage. Father stated that his paternal grandfather (the minor’s paternal great-grandfather) was a tribal member in Oklahoma, but he did not know which tribe or provide any additional information. Father filed a parental notification of Indian status form (Judicial Council forms, form ICWA-020 (Jan. 1, 2008); hereafter ICWA-020 form) wherein he claimed he may be a member of, or eligible for membership in a federally recognized Indian tribe but he did not specify the tribe. On June 20, 2019, the Agency filed notice under the ICWA, which included information regarding mother, father, the minor’s maternal and paternal grandparents, maternal and paternal great-grandparents, and a maternal uncle. The notice identified only mother as having Cherokee ancestry but did not include father’s possible Native American ancestry.2 The ICWA-030 notice was sent to the Cherokee Nation, United