In re Samatha S. CA2/2

FACTS

Samantha was born in June 2013 to Melissa L. (Mother), who expressed suicidal ideation; had “continuous intrusive thoughts of ‘molesting’ her newborn child”; and was afraid to be left alone with Samantha. The hospital reported Mother to a child protection hotline. A nurse at the hospital observed that Mother “does not show interest in holding or providing care of [the] newborn child.” Mother has an obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). In 2008, she was prescribed psychotropic medications, but stopped taking them because they “made her feel weird.” Mother was hospitalized in January 2013, during her pregnancy, after she saw scissors and thought about stabbing herself. In March 2013, Mother entered an in-patient treatment program. She was not sure what to do with her newborn. Mother described incidents of domestic violence in an interview with the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). She stated that Father “hit me across the face” a year earlier. There were “10 other incidents in which the father has been physically aggressive with her.” Two years earlier, Father held her neck but did not choke her. Mother did not call the police. Father made no preparations for…