In re Julian H. CA2/1

BACKGROUND

Mother has two children, Julian (born in 2013) and I.P. (born in 2019). At the time DCFS filed the petition before us, J.H.’s whereabouts were unknown. Mother reported she had lost contact with him four years earlier. At the time the dependency proceedings commenced, mother was living with B.P., the father of I.P. Mother worked from 4:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. B.P. worked from 4:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. and then took care of Julian and I.P. when mother was at work.

1. The petition In a petition filed January 24, 2023, DCFS alleged under Welfare and Institutions Code1 section 300, subdivision (a) that B.P. abused Julian by striking his arm and inflicting a bruise as B.P. had done in the past, and that on a prior occasion, B.P. struck Julian with a toy knife. DCFS alleged this conduct placed Julian and I.P. at risk of “serious physical harm, damage, danger and physical abuse.”

Undesignated statutory citations are to the Welfare and Institutions Code. Section 300, subdivision (a) allows a juvenile court to take jurisdiction over a child if the “child has suffered, or there is a substantial risk that the child will suffer, serious physical harm inflicted nonaccidentally…