Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services v. Rosemary W.

[721]Opinion

FILES, P. J. Rosemary W. appeals from a judgment made November 2, 1976, declaring her two sons to be dependent children of the court pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code section 600, subdivisions (a) and (d) (now Welf. & Inst. Code, § 300, subds. (a) and (d)), and determining that custody should be given to someone other than a parent.

The legal issue requiring discussion is the admissibility of the records of Central City Community Mental Health Facility relating to the mother’s treatment as an outpatient. Her counsel’s objection, based upon the psychotherapist-patient privilege defined in section 1012 of the Evidence Code, was overruled upon the theory that Welfare and Institutions Code section 5328, subdivision (f) (a part of the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, under which the treatment was provided), authorized the use of those records in evidence. We have concluded that section 5328 does not override the privilege; and that the trial court erred in refusing to consider whether the records were privileged under the Evidence Code; but the error does not require a reversal because other evidence compelled the decision to make the children dependents of the court.

The pertinent language of Welfare and Institutions Code section 5328 is as follows: “All information and records obtained in the course of providing services under Division 5 (commencing with Section 5000), Division 6 (commencing with Section 6000), or Division 7 (commencing with Section 7000), to either voluntary or involuntary recipients of services shall be confidential. Information and records may be disclosed only: ... (f) To the courts, as necessary to the administration of justice.. ..”

This portion of the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act is a general prohibition against disclosure of information, subject to defined exceptions. The confidentiality imposed by this act goes beyond matter which is protected by any of the privileges established in the Evidence Code. For example, a record showing only that a person had entered a facility for treatment or evaluation under the act would probably not contain privileged matter, but its disclosure could bring embarrassment or more serious consequences to the individual involved. One of the purposes of section5328 is to avoid that kind of undesired publicity. (See County of Riverside v. Superior Court (1974) 42 Cal.App.3d 478, 481 [116 Cal.Rptr. 886].)