In re C.C. CA4/2

I. INTRODUCTION

Defendants and appellants C.M. (Mother) and S.C. (Father) are the parents of

C.C., a girl born in October 2010. They appeal the juvenile court orders terminating their

parental rights to C.C. and placing her for adoption, claiming the court erroneously

refused to apply the parental benefit exception to the statutory preference for adoption

and select long-term guardianship over adoption as C.C.’s permanent plan. (Welf. &

Inst. Code, § 366.26, subd. (c)(1)(b)(i).)1 We find no error and affirm.

II. BACKGROUND

C.C. is the youngest of Mother’s three children from different fathers and Father’s

only child. In January 2011, when she was three months old, C.C. was taken into

protective custody based on a referral alleging she was being severely neglected. She

was found “extremely hungry” and below the 5th percentile for height, weight, and head

circumference.

Both parents had difficulty understanding C.C.’s needs. Numerous times they had

taken C.C. to the emergency room complaining she would not eat, but when hospital staff

1 All further statutory references are to the Welfare and Institutions Code unless otherwise indicated.

fed her she would eat…