M.C.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

No detailed history of the dependency proceedings is necessary.

Both children were found to be dependent children of the court on July 27, 2010,

on grounds of physical and sexual abuse, specifically to Al.M., who had been repeatedly

sodomized by an uncle before the age of five. (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 300, subd.

(b)(d)(g)(j).)2 At the time, Al.M. was almost six, and Ai.M. was just over a year old.

Eventually reunification failed, and the parents’3 parental rights were terminated

in January 2013. By this time—in fact as of June 2012—both girls had been placed with

petitioner as a foster/prospective adoptive home, and things went well enough that

1 Due to the nature of the issue before us, only a brief synopsis of the history of the case is necessary.

2 All subsequent statutory references are to the Welfare and Institutions Code unless otherwise specified.

Ai.M. and Al.M. have the same mother, but different fathers.

2 by November of that year the social worker was recommending that petitioner be given

preference in adoption of the children. However, Al.M. had been diagnosed with

posttraumatic stress disorder arising from her molestation. Problems…