In re A.F. CA2/5

Filed 6/1/22 In re A.F. CA2/5 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION FIVE

In re A.F., A Person Coming Under B312365 the Juvenile Court Law.

LOS ANGELES COUNTY (Los Angeles County DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN Super. Ct. No. AND FAMILY SERVICES, 21CCJP01246A)

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v.

E.R.,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from orders of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Julie Fox Blackshaw, Judge. Dismissed. Maureen L. Keaney, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Rodrigo A. Castro-Silva, County Counsel, and Kim Nemoy, Assistant County Counsel, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

The juvenile court assumed dependency jurisdiction over A.F. (Minor) after sustaining domestic violence and mental health allegations against Minor’s mother E.R. (Mother) and father J.F. (Father). Mother noticed an appeal from the court’s jurisdiction findings but Father did not. Then, during the pendency of this appeal, the juvenile court terminated jurisdiction over Minor. We consider whether Mother’s appeal is moot in light of the juvenile court’s order terminating jurisdiction.

I. BACKGROUND The Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (the Department) received a call from Mother in January 2021. She informed the Department that Father sent her a suicide note via text message two days earlier. Father was subsequently hospitalized on an involuntary psychiatric hold and diagnosed with Severe Major Depression, single episode. During its investigation of the family’s welfare, the Department discovered a history of household violence between Mother and Father. Mother slapped Father with an open hand on one occasion before Minor was born. In another incident, which occurred after Minor’s birth, Father slapped Mother with an open hand and Mother pushed Father; Mother told the Department that either she or Father was holding Minor during this fight. In 2021—during the Department’s investigation— Father grabbed Mother’s arms “really hard,” pushed her, and trapped her in the bathroom. Minor was in the home and may have witnessed the violence because he later told his maternal grandmother that “daddy hit mommy.”