In re T.O. CA4/2

FACTS

Defendant and appellant De.O. (father) has four children, all boys, with R.H.

(mother): D.O. (born June 2015), G.O. (born Jan. 2017), S.O. (born June 2018), and T.O.

(born Mar. 2019). In June 2022, their infant half-sister F.H. (born Feb. 2022) was

hospitalized for “failure to thrive.” Doctors subsequently “ruled out any medical

reasons” for the infant’s health issues, and changed the diagnosis to “severe malnutrition

due to inadequate intake,” possibly caused by neglect by mother. During this period,

mother and father already had an open family law matter to establish a visitation

schedule; father told the social worker mother “only wants him to have the boys every

other weekend,” but he “wants to see his children more than that.” In July 2022, plaintiff

and appellant San Bernardino County Children and Family Services (the department)

obtained a warrant to detain all five children from mother, and it placed the four boys in

father’s care.

In dependency petitions filed July 20, 2022, the department alleged the children

come within Welfare and Institutions Code section 300, subdivision (j), because their

2 1 sister suffered severe malnutrition while in mother’s…