Los Angeles County Department of Children & Family Services v. E.A.

Opinion

FLIER, Acting P. J. E.A., born in June 2011, is a half sibling of R.R. and N.L., both of whom were detained from the mother’s care in October 2010 due to the mother’s substance abuse, the father physically abusing R.R., and the mother and father engaging in physical altercations. As to father (mother is not a party to this appeal), the trial court found that father had struck RJR.’s head with his fists, that mother and father have a history of physical combat in front of the children, that mother failed to protect her children from physical abuse by her male companions (the fathers of R.R. and N.L.), that mother and her male companions also engaged in physical fights and that mother’s substance abuse prevented her from caring for her children. Having found that it had jurisdiction over E.A., the court ordered E.A. to be suitably placed. The court ordered visitation monitored by the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) when father is released from jail. Father appeals; we affirm.

[789]FACTS

1. Detention and Welfare and Institutions Code Section 3001 Petition

DCFS detained E.A. on June 20, 2011, because mother had recently enrolled in a drug treatment program and had not completed it, nor had she completed the court-ordered case plan for R.R. and N.L.; she also failed a number of drug tests. E.A. was placed with mother’s stepmother. DCFS filed the section 300 petition on June 23, 2011.

2. Father’s Arrest and Record

Father was arrested on July 4, 2011, for parole violation and remained in local custody.

A police report dated June 22, 2009, related that mother’s stepmother called the police when she heard father and mother arguing and then saw mother crying. Father had dragged mother by a lanyard around her neck down 10 cement steps. Mother was pregnant at the time.

On September 30, 2010, R.R. told an investigator that father hit him twice on the head and that he saw father hitting mother hard, with a closed fist, causing her to cry.

A police report dated January 12, 2011, named mother as the victim of an assault by father, at a time when she was pregnant with E.A. Father punched mother on the back of her head; the police saw swelling on the back of her head and a laceration on her ear.