In re C.R. CA2/3

Filed 6/12/25 In re C.R. CA2/3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 THREE In re C.R., a Person Coming B341335, B341338 Under the Juvenile Court Law. Los Angeles County LOS ANGELES COUNTY Super. Ct. No. 21CCJP00340 DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. G.M., Defendant and Appellant. APPEAL from orders of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Juan M. Valles, Juvenile Court Referee. Affirmed. Cristina Gabrielidis, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Dawyn R. Harrison, County Counsel, Kim Nemoy, Assistant County Counsel, Courtney Fisher, Deputy County Counsel, for Plaintiff and Respondent. _________________________  Mother appeals from the juvenile court’s orders denying her Welfare and Institutions Code section 388 petition and terminating parental rights to her daughter C.R. (born December 2020). Father is not a party to this appeal. Mother does not challenge the merits of the court’s rulings. Rather, mother solely contends we must conditionally reverse the order terminating her parental rights because the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services’ (DCFS) initial inquiry under the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (25 U.S.C. § 1901 et seq.) (ICWA), and the California statutes implementing ICWA (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 224 et seq.) (Cal-ICWA), was deficient.1 We affirm. BACKGROUND 1. Summary of C.R.’s dependency case Mother gave birth to C.R. in December 2020, less than a month before she turned 16 years old. The father was mother’s adult boyfriend. Mother herself was a minor dependent of the juvenile court. The Department had filed a section 300 petition on her behalf in January 2020.2 1 Undesignated statutory references are to the Welfare and Institutions Code. “[W]e use the term ‘Indian’ throughout to reflect the statutory language.” (In re Dezi C. (2024) 16 Cal.5th 1112, 1125, fn. 1 (Dezi C.).) We intend no disrespect. 2 Mother was detained from maternal grandmother in March 2020. In July 2020 the court sustained the petition’s allegations that maternal grandmother could not properly care for or supervise mother due to mother’s behavioral issues, including running away to be with her adult boyfriend, who was abusive. Maternal grandmother’s reunification services were terminated in October 2021. 2  Mother, who was pregnant, had been placed in a short-term residential program (STRP). Mother had a “history of running away/being AWOL” from her placement to be with father. Father abused mother, had forced mother to have sex with him, and reportedly used methamphetamines. In August 2020, the court issued a ten-year criminal protective order protecting mother from father, but she continued to run away to be with him. Shortly after C.R.’s birth in December 2020, the Department received a report of general neglect of C.R. The reporting party expressed a concern that mother would “AWOL” and take the baby to see father and that mother “lack[ed] the capacity to protect [C.R.] from witnessing future abuse from father onto minor mother.” These concerns, reports of mother and father having ongoing arguments over the phone, and an incident where C.R. fell, led the Department to detain C.R. from mother in January 2021. On January 22, 2021, the Department filed a section 300 petition on C.R.’s behalf based on mother’s and father’s history of violent altercations, and mother’s failure to enforce—and father’s failure to comply with —the criminal protective order, as well as father’s drug abuse. At the January 27, 2021 detention hearing, the court detained C.R. from parents. The court gave the Department discretion to place C.R. with “any appropriate, assessed” maternal relative, other than maternal grandmother. The Department assessed both maternal aunt and maternal cousin for C.R.’s possible placement. Maternal aunt decided against placement, and the Department could not immediately place C.R. with maternal cousin. Mother entered a waiver of rights and no-contest plea at the May 21, 2021 adjudication and disposition hearing. The 3 court sustained the petition, declared C.R. a dependent, and removed her from parents’ custody. The cour