Los Angeles County Department of Children & Family Services v. Alex C.

Opinion

COOPER, P. J. We reverse the juvenile court’s order terminating Alex C.’s parental rights over his daughter Gladys L. Before a juvenile court may terminate a presumed father’s parental rights over his child, the juvenile court must find by clear and convincing evidence that the presumed father is unfit. Here, it was neither alleged nor proven that Alex was an unfit parent.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Gladys and her two siblings became dependants of the juvenile court while they were in the custody of their mother, who is not a party to this appeal. Gladys’s father, Alex C., appeared at the detention hearing in August 2002 and submitted to the court’s jurisdiction. He was represented by counsel. The juvenile court found him to be Gladys’s presumed father. Alex was a nonoffending parent, but at the detention hearing the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) warned that it might amend the Welfare and Institutions Code1 section 300 petition to name him. The court refused to make “anticipatory orders,” without any petition alleging that Alex either abused or neglected Gladys.

Alex then disappeared. In his three-year absence, Alex did not request custody and did not visit Gladys. Alex reappeared in August 2005 at the section 366.26 hearing. At that time, he requested visits with Gladys. The court denied the request.2 The court found that it was not in Gladys’s best interest to have any contact with Alex. In December 2005, at the continuation of the section 366.26 hearing, the court terminated Alex’s parental rights. The court denied Alex’s renewed request to reestablish his relationship with Gladys. Alex appeals from the termination of his parental rights.

[848]DCFS never filed a petition alleging that Alex violated any provision of the Welfare and Institutions Code, and he was never adjudicated to be an unfit parent.3

DISCUSSION

Parents have a fundamental interest in the care, companionship, and custody of their children. (Santosky v. Kramer (1982) 455 U.S. 745, 758 [71 L.Ed.2d 599, 102 S.Ct. 1388] (Santosky).) Santosky establishes minimal due process requirements in the context of state dependency proceedings. “Before a State may sever completely and irrevocably the rights of parents in their natural child, due process requires that the State support its allegations by at least clear and convincing evidence.” (Id. at pp. 747-748.) “After the State has established parental unfitness at that initial proceeding, the court may assume at the dispositional stage that the interests of the child and the natural parents do diverge.” (Id. at p. 760.) “But until the State proves parental unfitness, the child and his parents share a vital interest in preventing erroneous termination of their natural relationship.” (Ibid.)