In re M.C. CA2/4

Filed 7/19/21 In re M.C. CA2/4 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 FOUR

In re M.C., a Person Coming Under B308648 the Juvenile Court Law. (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. 20CCJP00643A)

LOS ANGELES COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES,

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v.

R.C.,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Emma Castro, Commissioner. Affirmed. Jacob I. Olson, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Rodrigo A. Castro-Silva, County Counsel, Kim Nemoy, Assistant County Counsel, and Sally Son, Deputy County Counsel, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

The juvenile court denied custody, reunification services and visitation to appellant R.C. (father), the noncustodial, presumed father of M.C. (born July 2011). Father does not take issue with the court’s denial of custody or reunification services. He contends only that the court abused its discretion in concluding it was not in M.C.’s best interest to grant father visitation while father was incarcerated in Arkansas. Finding no error, we affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND Eight-year-old M.C. and her half-sister came to the attention of respondent Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) on December 18, 2019, after a violent altercation between the girls’ mother, M.R. (mother), and her live-in companion during which mother stabbed her companion in the arm.1 M.C. told a DCFS social worker that she had been woken on the night of the incident by mother’s screams. When the child saw the companion holding his wound, and saw blood pooled on the bed and floor, she began to scream herself. M.C. believed mother had acted in self-defense. M.C. told DCFS that she had no relationship with her biological father and knew only that her “real dad would hit [mother].” Mother told DCFS that father had had no part in M.C.’s life since the child was an infant and mother “fled from” father to escape his