In re L.N. CA4/2

I. BACKGROUND

The sole issue here is Cal-ICWA compliance, so we need not detail the

circumstances leading to L.N.’s removal from her mother, defendant and appellant J.C.

(mother), or mother’s actions after removal. Plaintiff and respondent Riverside County

Department of Public Social Services (the department) petitioned for L.N. under section

300 in April 2023, and in October 2024 the juvenile court determined that Cal-ICWA did

not apply and terminated mother’s parental rights to L.N. L.N.’s father, M.N. (father),

was also named in the petition and had his parental rights terminated, but he has not

1 Undesignated statutory references are to the Welfare & Institutions Code, and undesignated rule references are to the California Rules of Court. Also, “we use the term ‘Indian’ throughout to reflect the statutory language.” (In re Dezi C. (2024) 16 Cal.5th 1112, 1125, fn. 1.) No disrespect is intended.

2 appealed. Mother’s appeal, however, focuses solely on father’s relatives, so our focus is

on the department’s contacts with father.

The April 2023 detention report stated that father “reported having Navajo

Blackfoot Tribe Indian Ancestry. However; he denied himself or any…