In re Rebecca C.

The juvenile dependency court issued jurisdictional orders based on its findings that R.C. (Mother) has a history of substance abuse which renders her incapable of providing her teenage daughter with regular care and supervision, and further, that Mother’s drug abuse endangers her daughter’s health and safety, and places her daughter at risk of physical harm. On appeal, Mother argues that substantial evidence does not support the dependency court’s findings. We agree and reverse.

FACTS

Mother and Raymond C. (Father) are the parents of Rebecca C. who was born in December 1999. In August 2013, the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) received a referral that Mother and Father used marijuana and methamphetamine in Rebecca’s presence, and that there were guns and drag sales in the family home, and that “everyone” who lived in the home was using drugs.

DCFS sent two case social workers to the family home in response to the referral. Mother denied all of the allegations. She stated that she and Father were separated, and that he did not live in the family home. She denied any current use of drugs, and stated that she had completed a drag…