E.W.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

In January 2025, the Santa Clara County Department of Family and Children’s Services (“Department”) placed newborn Baby Boy R. into protective custody due to mother’s untreated mental health issues and substance abuse. Immediately following his birth, hospital staff observed mother attempting to feed the newborn with soup, cow’s milk, and yogurt. Mother also expressed delusional thoughts, believing that “the foster parent is giving her methamphetamines,” and “sex offenders are trying to take her identity.” She then was placed on a psychiatric hold. Four months earlier, mother had tested positive for cocaine while pregnant with Baby Boy R. At the detention hearing, the court appointed a guardian ad litem for mother on a provisional basis at her counsel’s request. Mother was not present at the hearing as she remained under psychiatric care. Mother was subsequently diagnosed with “unspecified psychosis not due to a substance or known physiological condition.” The hospital recommended continued inpatient hospitalization, concluding mother was a danger to herself or others and she continued to present “bizarre thought process, paranoid, and…