In re S.B. CA3

BACKGROUND

I Prior Orders Removing Mother’s Children Mother has eight children born between 2010 and 2021. R.S. is the father of all but the oldest of the children. Over the years, courts have removed the children from mother and father’s custody on several occasions. A juvenile court first removed the children in 2020 after a child welfare agency filed a dependency petition alleging, among other things, that several of the children were dirty with rotten teeth, that father submitted a urine sample testing positive for cocaine, and that mother used a dog shock collar on two of the children for potty training and discipline. The court later ordered the children returned to mother and father and dismissed the petition in 2021. A little over a year later, in late 2022, another juvenile court removed the children from mother and father’s custody after the Sutter County Health and Human Services Department (Department) filed the dependency petition in this matter. The Department alleged in its petition that two of the children—both described as “small”—were found unattended outside. It further alleged that one child, who was then four years old, wore a dog harness. And it alleged that…