In re A.C. CA2/6

Filed 3/6/13 In re A.C. CA2/6 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 SIX

In re A.C., a Person Coming Under the 2d Juv. No. B242014 Juvenile Court Law. (Super. Ct. No. J065689) (Ventura County)

VENTURA COUNTY HUMAN SERVICES AGENCY,

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v.

C.W. et al.,

Defendants and Appellants.

Parents appeal an order terminating parental rights and designating adoption as the permanent plan. (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 366.26.)1 We affirm. FACTS Chantel W. (Mother) and Terry C. (Father) are the parents of A.C.2 Mother has a long history with the HSA. Her parental rights to four other children had been terminated.

1 All statutory references are to the Welfare and Institutions Code. 2 The trial court also terminated Father's parental rights. Father does not contest the termination of his rights. He filed a brief, however, joining Mother in contesting the termination of her rights. For convenience, we refer to both parents collectively as Mother.

A.C. was born in 2004. Based on the previous terminations of parental rights, HSA brought a dependency action for A.C. Mother complied with the service plan, and the dependency action was terminated in 2005. On March 21, 2010, five-year-old A.C. awoke to find Mother was not home. Frightened, she called 911 and reported Mother missing. When a police officer arrived, he searched the apartment and found no one else there. At about 9:00 a.m., police officers saw Mother and a male companion, Father, walking up the stairs to her apartment. The officers detained Father. Father said that Mother had picked him up in her car at about 4:00 a.m. They went to a friend's house, drank alcohol and played cards. One of the officers heard Mother berating A.C. for calling 911. The officer reassured A.C. that she had done the right thing. Mother told the police that she had been in the garage the entire time, and that A.C.'s adult half-brother, C., had been in the apartment with A.C. The police told Mother she was lying. They had searched the area and had found no one. Mother became argumentative. The police arrested Mother and Father for being under the influence of a controlled substance. Mother tested positive for cocaine. HSA took A.C. into protective custody and filed a section 300 petition on March 23, 2010. The juvenile court temporarily removed A.C. from parental custody. Initially, HSA recommended that reunification services not be provided. The recommendation was based on Mother's prior history with HSA and her extensive history of criminal convictions. Ultimately, however, HSA changed its recommendation because A.C. was so well behaved. The court ordered reunification services. The court set an interim review for August 2010 and a six-month review for November 2010. At the interim review, HSA reported that Mother was progressing slowly. She dropped out of an outpatient drug treatment program and had just recently enrolled in another program. Her counselor expressed concern about her ability to benefit from treatment because she minimized the factors that led to her dependency. She was not