In Re Dawn L.

ASHBY, Acting P.J. —

On August 4, 1982, minors Nyota L., age five and Dawn L., age five months, were taken into police custody. Thereafter, respondent Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services filed a petition pursuant to former Welfare and Institutions Code section 300, asking that the children be adjudged dependents of the court. The social worker's report filed on October 15, 1982, contained allegations that the father of the children, Dolphin L. (appellant), had been in a violent altercation with their mother resulting in the mother's hospitalization, that prior to that time one of the children had been hospitalized with an unexplained fracture of the arm, that there was an ongoing family dispute between the parents, that both parents had been accused of welfare fraud, that the mother was an alcoholic who had no permanent residence, that appellant had served two years in prison on a rape charge, and that appellant was named as a suspect on an assault with a deadly weapon report.

In 1982, the minors were declared dependents of the juvenile court, and suitably placed with their maternal grandmother in Louisiana. In 1983, appellant filed a petition for…