In re Kai F. CA2/2

Filed 9/30/21 In re Kai F. CA2/2 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 TWO

In re KAI F., a Person Coming B310934 Under the Juvenile Court Law. (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. 20CCJP01233)

LOS ANGELES COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES,

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v.

MICHELLE M.,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from an order the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Lisa A. Brackelmanns, Judge Pro Tempore. Affirmed.

William Hook, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

Rodrigo A. Castro-Silva, County Counsel, Kim Nemoy, Assistant County Counsel, and William D. Thetford, Principal Deputy County Counsel, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

****** Michelle M. (mother) challenges the juvenile court’s denial of her attorney’s request to continue the dispositional hearing. Because this was mother’s second nonappearance in a row (despite proper notice), the court did not abuse its discretion in denying the request. We accordingly affirm. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND I. Facts Michelle M. (mother) and Art F. (father) have one child, Kai F. (born June 2017). For the first six months of his life, Kai lived with his parents in a trailer located on the back portion of the paternal grandparents’ property. During this period, mother and father used marijuana on a daily basis in Kai’s presence. Father would also enter the paternal grandparents’ home, steal and pawn items, and use the proceeds to purchase prescription pills and alcohol to ingest along with marijuana. Mother and father also had heated verbal arguments in Kai’s presence, and those verbal disputes sometimes became physical; on one occasion, mother inflicted a cut on father’s neck. When Kai was approximately six months old, the paternal grandparents became so concerned for his well-being that they took him into their home. Mother and father terminated their romantic relationship around that time, and mother started living in abandoned buildings. On February 10, 2020, father got into a verbal fight with paternal grandfather and left with Kai. Father, mother and Kai