Angela S. v. Superior Court

Petitioner Angela S. is the mother of two dependent children of the juvenile court, Octavio S. and Melissa S. Pursuant to California Rules of Court, rule 39.IB, petitioner filed a petition for extraordinary relief seeking review of the trial court’s order setting a permanency planning hearing pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code section 366.26. The hearing is currently scheduled for July 27, 1995. We conclude the order setting the section 366.26 hearing is supported by substantial evidence. Accordingly, we deny the petition. We publish our opinion to provide guidance to the bench and bar. We anticipate that the issues raised by the petition will frequently arise in future cases, and we intend to refer to this opinion’s resolution of the issues in future dispositions.

I. Procedural Background and Facts

Both petitioner and real party in interest, Mendocino County Department of Social Services, set out a complete factual history of the juvenile court proceedings to date. We see no need to recount that history herein, except when necessary to address petitioner’s claims for extraordinary relief. Briefly, petitioner has shown a chronic inability to provide the basic…