In re Bryana G. CA2/2

FACTS

Bryana was detained from Daysy A. (Mother) by the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) in September 2013, after Mother tested positive for amphetamines on the day that Bryana was born.2 Mother also tested positive while pregnant. She said that she used drugs due to depression and did not realize she was pregnant for the first seven months of gestation. Mother claimed to have stopped using drugs after learning of her pregnancy, and blamed her positive tests during pregnancy on “diet pills”; she was informed that diet pills cannot provoke positive results for amphetamines. Bryana was hospitalized for apnea and eating problems. When Father visited Bryana at the hospital, he smelled strongly of alcohol. During his initial encounter with a DCFS social worker, Father calmly denied that he uses drugs or alcohol, but acknowledged a history of using methamphetamine (meth); he also denied awareness of whether Mother uses drugs. When the social worker spoke to Mother and Father in the hospital, they suddenly became aggressive, and were yelling

The statute states that a child may be declared a dependent of the juvenile court if “[t]he child has suffered, or there…