California Court of Appeals, Second District, First Division
IN RE I.I. et al., Persons Coming Under the Juvenile Court Law. Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, Plaintiff and Respondent,
v.
M.I., Defendant and Appellant I.I. et al., Minors, Respondents.
APPEAL
from an order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County,
Martha A. Matthews, Judge. Affirmed. (Los Angeles County
Super. Ct. No. 19CCJP01193)
Page 972
COUNSEL
Megan
Turkat-Schirn, Beverly Hills, under appointment by the Court
of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant M.I.
Mary C.
Wickham, County Counsel, Kristine P. Miles, Assistant County
Counsel, and Sarah Vesecky, Deputy County Counsel, for
Plaintiff and Respondent Los Angeles County Department of
Children and Family Services.
Neale
Gold, San Diego, under appointment by the Court of Appeal,
for Respondents I.I. and M.I., Jr., Minors.
OPINION
ROTHSCHILD,
P. J.
Page 973
[256
Cal.Rptr.3d 169] Appellant M.I. (Father) challenges the
juvenile court’s jurisdictional order and findings that his
children, I.I. (born in 2016) and M.I., Jr. (born in 2017)
(the Minors), are persons described by Welfare and
Institutions Code section 300, subdivision (f),[1] based on the
juvenile court’s previously sustained petition finding that
the Minors’ mother, R.R. (Mother), and Father caused the
death of a child through abuse or neglect. Father argues
that, because the court found there was no current risk to
the children, the court erred in finding that the Minors were
persons described under section 300, subdivision (f). As we
explain, the court is required to sustain a petition and
assert jurisdiction if the facts described in section 300,
subdivision (f) exist. And because it was uncontroverted
that, in the earlier case, the juvenile court had found
Mother and Father caused the death of their child through
abuse or neglect, the court did not err in asserting
jurisdiction here. Accordingly, we affirm.
FACTUAL
AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND[2]
The
family consisted of Father, Mother, the Minors, the Minors’
siblings (twins Ad.R. and A.R. (born in 2010) (collectively
the twins)) and the Minors’ half siblings, R.V. (born in
2006), S.V. (born in 2007), and S.R. (born in
2013).[3]
A. Prior Child Welfare History
In the
summer of 2010, Mother gave birth to the twins. In November
2010, Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family
Services (DCFS) received a referral that Mother had taken the
four-month-old twins to the hospital and that medical
personnel had determined they were suffering from injuries
consistent with Shaken Baby Syndrome. DCFS investigated and
filed a juvenile dependency petition on behalf of the twins
and their half siblings, R.V. and S.R., under section 300,
subdivisions (b), (e), and (f), alleging that the twins were
suffering from severe brain injuries consistent with
...