In re J.C. CA4/2

BACKGROUND

Defendant and appellant M.C. is the mother of three children, two of whom are the

subjects of this dependency: J.C. (born 2015) and A.C. (born 2014).

In October 2022, police went to check on mother and children, and when they did

so mother attempted to flee with the children across a freeway. Police stopped mother

before she entered traffic and evaluated her for possible detention under section 5150,

though they ultimately concluded she did not meet the criteria. Four days later, the

department filed section 300 petitions alleging J.C. and A.C. came under subdivisions (a)

and (b)(1) because they were at risk of serious physical harm and mother had failed to

protect them due to her inability to supervise them and domestic violence concerns. Both

petitions alleged that mother gave the department no reason to believe either child was an

Indian child. Before October 25, 2022, the children were removed from mother via

warrant.

1 Undesignated statutory references are to the Welfare and Institutions Code. “In addition, because ICWA uses the term ‘Indian,’ we do the same for consistency, even though we recognize that other terms, such as ‘Native American’ or…