L.B. v. T.P. CA3

Filed 8/4/22 L.B. v. T.P. CA3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published,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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT (Tehama) ----

L.B., C093931

Plaintiff and Appellant, (Super. Ct. No. 20FL000134)

v.

T.P.,

Defendant and Respondent.

L.B. (mother) appeals from the trial court’s denial of her petition to terminate the parental rights of T.P. (father) under Family Code section 7822.1 Mother claims insufficient evidence supports the trial court’s determination that father had not abandoned their daughter M.V (the minor). Finding no error, we will affirm the trial court’s order.

1 Undesignated statutory references are to the Family Code.

1

BACKGROUND The minor was born in March 2009 as the result of a brief relationship between mother and father. Shortly after the minor’s birth, father visited the minor in the hospital following a Child Protective Services (CPS) referral after mother allegedly warmed the minor near an open oven. The minor was placed in protective custody, father began support payments to CPS, and mother ultimately reunified with the minor. Father visited the minor through CPS and attempted to have the minor placed with him and his wife. But he was arrested in 2009 for evading an officer. Father served nine months in jail, and after being released, obtained a family court order for supervised visitation with the minor. The visits eventually became home visits. Although father denied that his relationship with mother had ever been abusive or that he had ever abused the minor, he acknowledged that prior to the minor’s birth, mother had obtained a protective order against him. Father agreed to a three-year protective order in 2012 preventing father from contacting mother or the minor. It was issued after father’s car allegedly hit mother’s car. The protective order became permanent in 2015. Father said he did not intend to abandon the minor and continued with his support payments except when he was in custody. Father paid mother child support based on a 2012 support order. At the time of the evidentiary hearing, the minor was on father’s private medical insurance. Father visited the minor until the issuance of the protective order. In July 2019, father became concerned for the minor’s well-being and contacted CPS and the Sheriff’s Department for a welfare check. He also filed a motion in family court for custody and visitation. The matter was sent to a mediator, who recommended therapeutic visits between father and the minor, which the family court ordered. Mother filed a petition to terminate father’s parental rights on February 20, 2020, alleging, among other things, that father had no communication with the minor since September 2012 and had intended to abandon her. Following an investigation, the