In re P.M. CA5

INTRODUCTION

This appeal concerns a request for placement pursuant to California’s statutory relative placement preference, made after the termination of reunification services but before the termination of parental rights. (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 361.3.)1 In January 2024, then five-month-old P.M. was taken into protective custody following a referral for general neglect and substance abuse by W.M. (mother), and in February 2024, P.M. was adjudged a dependent of the juvenile court under section 300, subdivision (b). After mother’s reunification services were terminated in August 2024 and this matter was set for a selection and implementation hearing under section 366.26, maternal grandfather K.M. and maternal stepgrandmother Ka.M. (maternal grandparents) requested placement of P.M. under section 361.3 and then filed a section 388 petition seeking to change P.M.’s placement from the nonrelative caregivers and de facto parents (de facto parents) with whom he has resided since being taken into protective custody. At a contested hearing, the juvenile court concluded the relative placement preference did not apply at that stage in the dependency proceeding, found changing P.M.’s…