In re Elijah C. CA2/6

Background Child was born in June 2012 and is now two years old. Child has a serious congenital heart defect that requires either "a series of three open heart procedures or a heart transplant." Child's medical team decided that he would have the three surgical procedures. Child had the first surgery shortly after birth. In November 2012, when child was five months old, a juvenile dependency petition was filed. The petition alleged that mother "has not followed through with the necessary medical appointments" and that "child continues to lose weight and has had to be hospitalized to monitor his situation due to the mother's failure to follow medical direction." The petition further alleged that father "lives out of state and is unable to provide adequate care for the child's medical[] needs." The day after the petition was filed, the child was ordered to be detained out of mother's home. In March 2013 the petition was sustained after an uncontested hearing. The juvenile court declared child to be a dependent of the court. It ordered that custody of the child be removed from the parents and that family reunification services be provided to mother. In September…