In Re SB

Defendant and appellant S.M. (mother) appeals from a juvenile court order entered at a Welfare and Institutions Code section 366.26 [1] permanent plan hearing. The juvenile court ordered visits between mother and her daughter, S.B., "to be determined by the legal guardians." Under our interpretation of section 366.26, subdivision (c)(4), and the constitutional prohibition against delegating judicial duties, the juvenile court could not delegate to the legal guardians the decision whether visits would occur or the complete discretion to determine the time, place, and manner of any visits. Accordingly, we reverse the visitation order.

S.B. and her brother were detained pursuant to a petition filed in November 1999 by the Department of Children and Family Services (the department). [2] Over approximately the next two years, mother, who suffered from a psychiatric disorder, did not maintain the visitation schedule ordered by the juvenile court. Mother reportedly verbally abused S.B., and S.B.'s foster mother said that "the less [S.B.] sees her mother the better off [S.B.] is."

The juvenile court terminated family reunification services for mother on July 2, 2001. At the…