KAREN H. v. Superior Court

Petitioner Karen H., mother of the minor Kairra, seeks an extraordinary writ (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 39.IB) to vacate the orders of the juvenile court made at the dispositional hearing denying her reunification services and setting a Welfare and Institutions Code section 366.26 hearing (further undesignated section references are to this code). Petitioner also requests a stay of proceedings in the respondent court. We shall deny the petition, rendering the request for stay moot.

Two-year-old Kairra and her eight-year-old sister were removed from petitioner’s custody in November 2000, due to petitioner’s ongoing substance abuse problems and recent positive drug tests during a period of family maintenance services.

According to petitioner’s history of contacts with the Sacramento County Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), petitioner had received, or been offered, services from as early as 1994 through 1998 due to allegations of physical abuse of the children then in her custody. By March 1998, the referrals indicated petitioner admitted substance abuse. Petitioner was in a program of methadone maintenance when Kairra was bom prematurely in October 1998. In…