In re M.R. CA3

BACKGROUND

On August 5, 2022, the Yolo County Health and Human Services Agency (Agency) filed a dependency petition under section 300, subdivisions (b)(1) and (c) with respect to minors N.R. and M.R. The petition alleged that minors’ father D.R. (father) failed to provide adequate care, support, and supervision to minors in that he engaged in “persistent and pervasive” parental alienation of minors’ mother, J.R. (mother). Father undermined mother’s authority, encouraged minors to leave her home at great physical peril, and refused to coparent with her. N.R., who was then 13 years old, and M.R., who was then 16, engaged in dangerous and concerning behavior as a result. For example, while at mother’s home, minors stabbed her couch and bed with a knife, cut electronic cords, and held a knife to her. They ran away from her home repeatedly, refused to go to school, ran down the freeway, and scratched themselves in bushes to make it appear that mother had abused them. An evaluator appointed by the family court in a contentious custody dispute between the parents concluded that minors had been “overwhelmingly damaged.” The evaluator opined that father “pathologically alienated” minors…