In re D.E. CA2/1

BACKGROUND

On April 18, 2012,1respondent Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) received a referral alleging that appellant Daniel E. (father) had sexually abused his 14-year- old stepdaughter, M.M. M.M. told Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) booking officers that father had ―touched her naked body all over.‖ M.M. later told LAPD detectives that father ―touched her bare breasts and bare buttocks,‖ and that he had ―asked her to lift her shirt and also show her vagina.‖ M.M. denied there had been any bodily penetration or exchange of fluids. M.M. had disclosed the sexual abuse to her mother, E.E. (mother). Mother (who is not a party to this appeal) had not believed her. The LAPD took M.M., father‘s 13-year-old stepson, C.M., and father‘s 15-year-old biological daughter, D.E., into protective custody. When interviewed by DCFS at the LAPD station on April 18, M.M. told a children‘s social worker (CSW) that father had sexually abused her on five occasions. Each incident occurred on a Saturday when mother had gone out with D.E., leaving M.M. and C.M. home with father. Each incidence of sexual abuse took place either in M.M.‘s bedroom or in the kitchen while her brother…