In Re Alicia O.

Janette Freeman Cochran and Jane Winer, under appointments by the Court of Appeal, for Objectors and Appellants.

De Witt W. Clinton, County Counsel, Lori A. Fields and Jill Regal for Plaintiff and Respondent.

[Opinion certified for partial publication. [*] ]

OPINION

WOOD (A.M.), P.J.

Bennie and Lupe R. (appellants) appeal from an order terminating their legal guardianship over Alicia O. pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code section 366.4. [1]

Alicia, born on March 15, 1976, is mentally retarded and suffers from kyphoscoliosis (curvature of the spine) and cardiac defects. She is unable to speak except through a kind of sign language and has the mental age of a two-year-old child. A section 300 petition was first filed in her case in October 1976, alleging abandonment by her mother.

Appellants, Mr. and Mrs. R., operated a licensed foster family home and specialized in the care of disabled children. Mrs. R. was active in various foster care groups. Alicia, who had been in long-term foster care from the time she was nine months old, was placed with appellants in November 1991. They sought and obtained legal guardianship of Alicia by order of the juvenile court on April 29,…