Jessica T. v. Super. Ct. CA1/4

I. BACKGROUND

The Del Norte County Department of Health and Human Services (Department) initially offered voluntary family maintenance services to this family pursuant to section 301 in September 2012 due to ongoing incidents of domestic violence between mother and Matthew T. (father).2 Services offered included domestic violence education, parenting education, and referrals for all three children for developmental assessments and counseling. The Department also provided a dumpster to assist the parents in removing garbage from their garage. However, noting that the institution of voluntary services had been ineffective in mitigating the family’s problems, the Department subsequently detained all three minors on September 24, 2012, after father was arrested for stabbing mother with a kitchen knife in the presence of the children. According to mother, the stabbing was preceded by an incident in which father choked her to unconsciousness. In petitions filed the next day, the Department highlighted mother and father’s chronic history of domestic violence and also indicated that the parents’ substance abuse put the minors at risk. According to the Department, both parents admitted to…