In Re NM

Nicole A. Williams, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Minor.

R.M. (appellant), father of N.M. (minor), appeals from the orders and judgment of the juvenile court setting a permanent plan of legal guardianship and appointing Y.C., a nonrelative, as the minor's legal guardian instead of P.M., the minor's paternal grandmother. (Welf. & Inst. Code, §§ 366.26, 395.) [1] Appellant contends there was insufficient evidence of good cause to deviate from the preference of the Indian tribe, the expert on the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (ICWA; 25 U.S.C. § 1901 et seq.), and the Sacramento County Department of Health and Human Services (Department) to place the minor with the paternal grandmother. (§ 366.26, subd. (c)(1)(B)(vi)(II).) [2] We disagree and will affirm the judgment.

On April 19, 2005, the Department filed a juvenile dependency petition alleging the minor, then four months old, came within section 300, subdivisions (b) and (j) because of continuing substance abuse by appellant and the minor's mother, their inability to provide adequate support and care for the minor, and the mother's inability to provide appropriate care and supervision of the minor's…