In re Edward T. CA2/8

FACTS

Father and D.M. (Mother) are the parents of two children: L.T. born in 2010 and Edward born in 2011. L.T. was previously declared a dependent child of the dependency court in 2011 and is not involved in Father’s current appeal. On May 23, 2012, the Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) received a referral concerning Edward after Mother and Father had been arrested for burglary. The investigating officer in the criminal case reported that the parents had confessed to the allegations. At that time, the family lived with the paternal grandmother, who was found to have outstanding warrants related to traffic offenses. A case social worker responded to the referral and took Edward into care.2 Edward appeared to be in good health and free of any signs of physical neglect or abuse. DCFS declined to place Edward with the paternal grandmother, due to her outstanding warrants. When interviewed on May 23, 2012, Father denied problems with drug or alcohol abuse, but did admit being arrested for drug possession in 2011. He had been submitting to drug testing as a part of his probation, but had missed some tests recently because, he said, he had been in Louisiana…