J.D.B.

Facts J.B. was born in May, 2023, showing signs of substance withdrawal that required treatment in a neonatal

3 intensive care unit. Hospital staff referred the matter to the San Luis Obispo County Department of Social Services (Department). Mother admitted having used fentanyl five days prior to the birth. Father said that he used methamphetamine and fentanyl daily for several years and had last used fentanyl about three or four days earlier. Hospital staff described both parents as “cooperative and appropriate” with the baby and with staff. Mother and Father also immediately expressed to the social worker a desire to enter residential treatment. They stated they understood J.B. would be taken into protective custody and identified Father’s sister as a possible placement. Mother told the social worker that she wanted to enter treatment after she was discharged from the hospital and “expressed her commitment to ‘do whatever I have to do’ to reunify” with J.B. Mother and Father frequently visited J.B. while he was in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). J.B. was discharged from the hospital and placed with the paternal aunt on May 19. Mother and Father did not contest his…