In re A.B. CA3

Filed 7/23/21 In re A.B. 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NOT TO BE PUBLISHED California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published,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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 (Placer) ----

In re A.B., a Person Coming Under the Juvenile Court C093609 Law.

PLACER COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH (Super. Ct. No. 53004893) AND HUMAN SERVICES,

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v.

J.D.,

Defendant and Appellant.

J.D., mother of minor A.B., appeals from the juvenile court’s orders terminating her parental rights. (Welf. & Inst. Code, §§ 395, 366.26.)1 Mother’s sole contention on

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

1

appeal is that the juvenile court erred in failing to find the sibling relationship exception to adoption applied. We disagree and affirm. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND On May 17, 2019, the Placer County Department of Health and Human Services (Department) filed a section 300 petition on behalf of then four-year-old A.B. and her then 14-year-old half sister (sister). The petition was based on mother’s alcohol and prescription drug abuse, A.B.’s father’s substance abuse and untreated mental health issues, the parents’ ongoing domestic violence, and the physical abuse of A.B. It was reported that, shortly before the petition was filed, mother had been intoxicated, become angry with A.B., grabbed her by the hair, threw her across the room, and punched her in the face. In the weeks prior to the filing of the section 300 petition, A.B. and the sister were staying with the maternal aunt (aunt). The sister told the social worker that she was “terrified” to go back to mother’s home due to the ongoing domestic violence. She had witnessed multiple occasions of mother punching father in the face and on the body. The sister would take A.B. to a bedroom to help protect her from the violence, of which there were “so many.” The sister reported that during a recent incident a month earlier, mother had been drunk and trying to hit father (who was holding A.B.), but had missed and hit A.B. instead. The sister had seen bruising on A.B. and was afraid for her safety. A.B. told the aunt she did not want to go home and that, when she was at home, she had a hard time sleeping and would stay up all night, afraid of “monsters,” although she slept well at the aunt’s home. The May 2019 section 300 petition was filed after another incident of domestic violence in the home. A.B. was detained in a foster home and the sister was released to her father’s custody. The sister reported at the May 21 detention hearing that she and A.B. “have a really, really like good close bond.” The juvenile court noted that the sibling relationship was important to both the sister and A.B. and that they needed to be