K.S. v. Superior Court CA2/6

Filed 7/18/23 K.S. v. Superior Court CA2/6 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

K.S., 2d Juv. No. B328269 (Super. Ct. Nos. 22JV00051, Petitioner, 22JV00052, 22JV00053) (Santa Barbara County) v.

THE SUPERIOR COURT OF SANTA BARBARA COUNTY,

Respondent;

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY CHILD WELFARE SERVICES,

Real Party in Interest.

In this petition for extraordinary writ K.S. (Mother) challenges the juvenile court’s order terminating her reunification services and setting the matter for a selection and implementation hearing regarding her children, K.W., K.R., and

K.R. (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 366.26, subd. (l)1; Cal. Rules of Court, rule 8.452.) She contends the evidence was insufficient to terminate reunification services. We deny the petition and deny the request to stay the section 366.26 hearing, currently scheduled for August 17, 2023. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY Mother has a history of untreated substance abuse preventing her from caring for her children. At birth, the two younger children tested positive for amphetamines. She has struggled to provide the children with stable housing; since 2019 they were “couch surfing” or sleeping in the car, in shelters and hotels, or on the floor. In 2020, Mother and the two younger children were housed at an inpatient substance abuse program, Project Preemie. They were removed after Mother had an altercation with another client. Mother also enrolled in a Good Samaritan home that provided housing, but she was removed from the home for drug use. In December 2021, Mother relapsed on methamphetamine. On two occasions, social workers found her asleep and difficult to wake while her children remained unsupervised. Mother sometimes left the home to smoke methamphetamine, leaving the younger children, then three years old and 17 months old, in the care of the 11-year-old child, but without telling him she was leaving. On multiple occasions, Mother’s “on again off again” boyfriend, Rudy G., committed physical violence against her. He assaulted her in February 2022 in the presence of the children,