Placer County Department of Health & Human Services v. Tena F.

Opinion

SIMS, Acting P. J. Appellant, the mother of the minors, appeals from the order of the juvenile court terminating her parental rights. (Welf. & Inst. Code, §§ 366.26, 395.1) Appellant contends the juvenile court failed to comply with the notice requirements of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). (25 U.S.C. § 1901 et seq.) We will remand for a determination as to whether the “request for verification” sent to the Pawnee Tribe by the Placer County Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) complied with the requirements of the ICWA and of federal regulations implementing that act.

Factual and Procedural Background

In 1998, the minors, then 10 and 13 years old, were made dependents of the juvenile court based on allegations that appellant regularly left them for weeks at a time with various caretakers, including a registered sex offender. A subsequent petition alleged that the minors’ father had been convicted of raping the minors’ 13-year-old half sister and that he was a registered sex offender with a condition that he have no contact with children. Appellant reported that the minors’ father was her uncle, with whom she had lived beginning at age 13. According to appellant, the father had been released from prison and she had minimal information concerning his whereabouts.

Appellant was granted reunification services, which were denied to the minors’ father based on section 361.5, subdivision (b)(8) (minor conceived by means of the commission of an offense listed in Pen. Code, § 288 or § 288.5).

[1106]In April 2000, the juvenile court terminated reunification services and ordered a permanent plan of long-term foster care for the minors. Subsequently, the minors’ foster parents requested guardianship of the minors and a section 366.26 hearing was scheduled.

The report for the section 366.26 hearing stated: “It has recently come to the social worker’s attention that [the minors] may be of Native American de[s]cent.” According to the report, “[t]he appropriate ICWA request for verification” was sent to the Pawnee tribe and the social worker was “awaiting return.” A subsequent report indicated: “The biological father has stated in the past that he believes [the minors] may be of Native American de[s]cent.” It was again reported that a “request for verification” had been sent to the Pawnee tribe but “ha[d] not been returned.” In the meantime, the foster parents had decided that they were willing to adopt the minors.