In re C.J. CA4/2

I. BACKGROUND

Minors C.J. (born 2022) and S.J. (born 2020) were referred to plaintiff and

respondent San Bernardino County Children and Family Services (department) after C.J.

was seen at a hospital with injuries the doctor suspected were not accidental. C.J., then

two months old, had a fractured femur and healing rib fractures, and the parents’

responses about how the injuries occurred were inconsistent. The department filed

section 300 petitions for both children, alleging, among other things, severe physical

abuse to a child under five by a parent due to C.J.’s injuries. (See § 300, subd. (e).) In

December 2022, the juvenile court detained the children and ordered predisposition

services for both parents.

The contested jurisdictional and dispositional hearing took place over a year later,

in March 2024. Meanwhile, mother—the only appellant—had completed her

predisposition services, which included individual counseling, parenting classes, and

anger management classes. At the hearing, the juvenile court found all the allegations in

the petitions true, denied (or “bypassed”) reunification services under section 361.5,

1 Undesignated statutory references are to the…