In re I.M. CA4/2

INTRODUCTION

Regina S., mother, appeals from an order terminating parental rights. (Welf. &

Inst. Code, § 395.1.)1 Mother argues there was insufficient evidence that her son I.M.

was adoptable or that he should be moved from his current institutional placement to a

prospective adoptive home. (§ 366.26, subd. (c).)

I.M. is now 13 years old. When he was born in June 2001, he tested positive for

methamphetamine. He is nonverbal and nonambulatory with profound mental

retardation, quadriplegia, cerebral palsy, and other conditions. He requires a gastric

feeding tube, a catheter, an oxygen machine, and a breathing monitor. He has been the

subject of the current dependency since December 2009 when he nearly died while in the

care of his legal guardian, his maternal grandmother (MGM).

In a report prepared by the Inland Regional Center (IRC) in December 2013, I.M.

was described as severely disabled and entirely dependent on his caregiver for all his life

activities. He was living in a facility for the medically fragile. A married couple, who

have many years of experience caring for children with special needs, wants to adopt

him.

In June 2014, the court terminated parental…