M.S. v. Riverside County Department of Public Social Services

Opinion

McKINSTER, J. M.S., plaintiff and appellant, is the father of A.S., the subject of a Welfare and Institutions Code section 3001 petition that Riverside County Department of Public Social Services (DPSS) filed on August 4, 2000, after A.S.’s mother claimed that M.S. (hereafter father) had physically abused her and then eight-month-old A.S.

Father made admissions that he had hit A.S. to get her to stop crying, but not hard enough to cause injury. He also admitted to tying the baby’s arms down to keep her from putting her hands in her mouth. At the combined jurisdiction and disposition hearing held on November 28, 2000, father [1513]submitted on the jurisdictional reports. The juvenile court sustained the petition, declared A.S. a dependent of the court, and ordered reunification services for father.

The juvenile court eventually returned A.S. to her mother’s custody. On March 29, 2001, DPSS submitted an ex parte request to terminate jurisdiction. Without conducting a hearing the court terminated jurisdiction and ordered no contact between father and A.S. Father appealed. On December 27, 2001, we reversed the order terminating jurisdiction in case No. E0295892 and remanded the matter for a hearing regarding termination of jurisdiction. On May 10, 2002, DPSS filed a section 388 petition in which it requested termination of the dependency with a family law order granting custody to mother and visitation to father. On July 18, 2002, father stipulated to termination of the dependency after the filing of a family law order giving legal and physical custody to mother and visitation to him. Later, father sought to rescind his agreement. On August 18, 2002, the juvenile court denied his motion to set aside his stipulation, made family law exit orders, and dismissed the dependency. Father appealed (case No. E032341). Father’s counsel filed a brief under authority of In re Sade C. (1996) 13 Cal.4th 952 [55 Cal.Rptr.2d 771, 920 P.2d 716]. On March 18, 2003, this court affirmed after conducting a review of the entire record.

In the meantime, on December 26, 2002, father, in pro se, filed a petition pursuant to section 388, seeking to overturn all orders of the juvenile court from detention forward and to obtain relief from the stipulated agreement based on an alleged improper relationship between the judge who had presided over the case and counsel for DPSS. Following a hearing on February 13, 2003, the court denied the petition on the grounds that father had knowingly entered into the stipulation and that he had not shown good cause to reopen the dependency. The juvenile court indicated that it was no longer involved and the case was a family law matter now. Father appealed (case No. E033224) and his attorney again filed a brief under the authority of In re Sade C. This court again affirmed the order after conducting the required review of the entire record.