Shasta County Department of Social Services v. Rebecca R.

Opinion

RAYE, J. In this case we are called upon to consider the authority of the juvenile court to extend the time parameters ordinarily applicable to dependency proceedings in an unusual circumstance where a parent’s hospitalization for mental illness compromises her ability to participate in reunification services. The mother, Rebecca, was hospitalized for all but five months of the reunification phase of the dependency proceedings. At the 18-month status review hearing the juvenile court ordered family reunification services terminated and the case set for a selection and implementation hearing, despite evidence of the mother’s impeccable record of visitation and efforts [1778]to comply with the reunification plan. The order was premised on the court’s erroneous belief that it could not extend the reunification period and was compelled to either terminate reunification services or return the minor children to the mother. We will reverse the judgment terminating the mother’s parental rights and remand to permit the trial court to exercise its discretion under Welfare and Institutions Code section 352 to continue reunification services.

Factual and Procedural Background

As so often occurs in dependency appeals, we are required to piece together the critical facts from years of reports, plans, and evaluations, prepared by a revolving cast of social workers, therapists, and psychiatrists, argued by a revolving cast of lawyers, and reviewed by a revolving cast of judges. Because they are so critical to our disposition of this appeal, we recount the facts in detail.

Rebecca, the youngest of six children, was the “product of a very pathological family system.” Her father was abusive. In her midteens, Rebecca was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and thereafter was treated by numerous psychiatrists, placed on a variety of psychotropic medications, and was hospitalized often. She is extraordinarily intelligent, with an IQ of 134.

In 1986 Rebecca, while hospitalized, met Eugene, who had also been hospitalized for depression, and began a relationship with him. She was 23 years old. They left the hospital and began driving cross-country seeking shelter. Thus began an unstable relationship which over the next five years saw Rebecca give birth to the three children who are the subject of this proceeding.

Unable to take her medication during pregnancy, Rebecca suffered a postpartum psychotic episode soon after each of her daughters was bom. Within a week of Elizabeth’s birth in 1988, Rebecca fled the house with her newborn, exhibiting manic behavior. She was hospitalized involuntarily and Elizabeth was placed in a temporary shelter. Eugene, who was employed as a mechanic, threatened the hospital staff and the social worker.