In Re Margarita D.

Mitchell L. Beckloff, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, Santa Monica, for Minor.

Certified for Partial Publication. [*]

HALLER, J.

Filiberto G, who alleges he is the biological father of Margarita D, appeals the juvenile court's denial of his motion to set aside a previous paternity judgment that another man was Margarita's presumed father and order paternity testing to establish he is Margarita's father. Filiberto also appeals the court's denial of his Welfare and Institutions Code [1] section 388 petition seeking (1) an order declaring him to be Margarita's presumed father, (2) reunification services and physical custody of Margarita, and (3) the setting aside of a previous order placing Margarita with her maternal grandparents.

Margarita's Dependency Proceedings

Margarita was born on April 30, 1996. Her mother, Adelaida C, was at Las Colinas Detention Facility at the time of the birth, incarcerated for the death of Margarita's older brother, Giovanni G. Giovanni died on March 15, 1996, from a cardiac concussion caused by a blunt impact to his chest; he was 11 months old.

On May 2, 1996, the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency (Agency) filed a…