K.B.

I.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL

BACKGROUND

A. July to November 2011: Mother Has Difficulty Caring for Her Four Children After a Fifth Child Dies. In July 2011, 12-year-old L.B. (L.L.B.’s sister and L.A. and J.W.’s half sister) died after overdosing on methadone mother was prescribed to treat her chronic pain. Real party in interest San Mateo County Human Services Agency (Agency) filed petitions seeking dependency court jurisdiction over the four other children under mother’s care: L.L.B., L.A., J.W.,3 and P.F., another half sister.4 Jurisdiction was alleged under section 300, subdivision (b) (failure to protect) and subdivision (j) (abuse of sibling) on the bases that mother (1) had “mental health issues” and had left controlled substances where the children could reach them; (2) had failed to seek mental health treatment for L.B. even though L.B. had been cutting herself for several months before her death; and (3) had improperly cared for P.F., who had attempted suicide the previous year by taking mother’s sleeping pills. None of the four children was removed, however, and they remained in mother’s care. At the detention hearing, counseling was ordered for mother and the…