Kings County Department of Human Services v. Victor B.

Opinion

THE COURT.* Victor B. appeals from an order terminating his parental rights (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 366.26) to his daughters, Megan and Heather.1 He does not claim the juvenile court committed prejudicial error at the section 366.26 hearing. Appellate counsel in fact originally filed a statement with this court under In re Sade C. (1996) 13 Cal.4th 952 [55 Cal.Rptr.2d 771, 920 P.2d 716] that there were no arguable issues. Nevertheless, appellant urges this court to reverse based on subsequent events. Namely, the [13]children’s adoptive placement has been terminated. On review, we will affirm.

Procedural History

In light of the limited scope of this appeal, the record may be briefly summarized. Megan, bom in 1991, and Heather, bom in 1993, have been dependent children in out-of-home placement since 1996. The children originally came to the juvenile court’s attention because their mother failed to protect them from her boyfriend who sexually molested Heather. Meanwhile, the children could not be placed with their father because he had previously physically abused Megan. Despite extensive reunification efforts, neither parent regained custody of the children.

The court in 1999 selected long-term foster care as the permanent plan for the children. They had been placed with their paternal grandmother with whom they were strongly bonded; however, she was diagnosed with a serious health problem which eventually led to her death. The children were then placed out of state with their paternal great aunt. That placement led respondent Kings County Department of Human Services to seek modification of the permanent plan from long-term foster care to adoption. Although the juvenile court set a new section 366.26 hearing for the fall of 2000, there were numerous delays until June 2001 when the court found the children adoptable and terminated parental rights.

Discussion

Appellant contends Heather and Megan are no longer adoptable because they recently have been removed from their adoptive placement. According to appellant, if we do not reverse the order terminating his parental rights, there is a strong possibility that the children will become legal orphans. Lost in appellant’s rhetoric is a lack of authority to support his position, not to mention statutory law which appears to expressly preclude the reversal he seeks.