In Re Robert P.

Janice P., the mother, appeals from an order of the juvenile court depriving her of the custody of her minor son, Robert P., and declaring him to be a ward of the court, as a dependent child pursuant to the provisions of Welfare and Institutions Code section 600, subdivisions (b) and (d). The appeal raises a question of first impression as to the proper evidentiary standard of review, and the necessity of findings in proceedings pursuant to section 600 juvenile proceedings; there are also issues concerning the application of the exclusionary rule, the quantum and sufficiency of the evidence, and the court’s failure to make a finding that the award to a parent would be detrimental to the child pursuant to In re B. G., 11 Cal.3d 679 [ 114 Cal.Rptr. 444 , 523 P.2d 244 ]. For the reasons set forth below, we have concluded that- the order of the juvenile court must be reversed for such a finding in accordance with this opinion.

Viewing the record most strongly in favor of the order of the juvenile court, as we must, the following pertinent facts were adduced at the detention hearing: Sometime in the late spring or early summer of 1973, the mother, Janice R, then a junior in…