In Re Karen C

Karen C., a 12-year-old child, appeals from an order of the juvenile court denying her petition for an order determining the existence of a mother and child relationship between Leticia C. and her. Though Leticia joined in the petition, she is not a party to this appeal.

We will vacate the order and remand the matter to the juvenile court for further hearing and consideration in light of a recent decision of the Supreme Court of California, In re Nicholas H. (2002) 28 Cal.4th 56 [ 120 Cal.Rptr.2d 146 , 46 P.3d 932 ] (Nicholas H.). As will be discussed, that case involved a presumed father. We hold that under the facts of the present matter, the decision reached in Nicholas H. applies with equal force to a woman, as a presumed mother.

I.

The record of the proceedings below tended to show the facts stated in the following four paragraphs.

Karen was an unwanted child of Alicia and Jose P., a married couple. Through an intermediary who had unsuccessfully attempted an untherapeutic third-trimester abortion on Alicia, Alicia gave Karen to Leticia promptly after Karen was bom in the Los Angeles County General Hospital in 1989. Alicia told the hospital staff her own name was…