In re V.S.

INTRODUCTION

At birth, V. was removed from the care of her mother, Vanessa S. (mother). V.’s half-brother, N., nine years old at the time, was also removed from mother. For the first four months of V.’s life, she and N. were placed together in the care of a relative; N. was then moved to the custody of his non-offending father. V. was placed with her current caregiver, an aunt, at the age of nine months. The aunt was deemed V.’s legal guardian in 2019. N. was returned to mother’s custody after his father encountered some health problems. N. and V. saw each other sporadically during V.’s visits with her mother and grandmother. The aunt moved to adopt V. in 2022. Mother opposed termination of parental rights under the parental relationship exception to adoption under Welfare and Institutions Code, section 366.26, subdivision (c)(1)(B)(i). 1 The juvenile court held that mother did not meet her burden to demonstrate that this exception applied. The court then, without request or input from the parties, held that adoption would not be in V.’s best interest under the sibling exception to adoption in section 366.26, subdivision (c)(1)(B)(v). The court selected legal guardianship as the…