In re Elijah C. CA2/2

FACTS

The minors Elijah was born in 2008. His father is Shannon C. (father). Cherish was born in 2010. Her father is George B. (George). 2012 dependency proceeding regarding Elijah On March 5, 2012, the Department filed a petition regarding Elijah under Welfare and Institutions Code section 300, subdivisions (a) and (b).1 Father was the offending parent. At the time, mother was incarcerated.2 A month later, the juvenile court

1 All further statutory references are to the Welfare and Institutions Code unless otherwise indicated. 2 The petition is not in the appellate record. According to the detention report of October 28, 2013, a reporting party called in February 2012 and stated that father had been arrested for strangling his girlfriend several times in a hotel, and that Elijah had been present for those incidents. The Department later discovered that father tried to strangle himself by making a noose out of his T-shirt while he was in jail. He was placed in a mental institution. When mother came to pick up Elijah at the police station, she was

2 terminated jurisdiction with a family law order giving mother sole legal and physical custody. Events leading up to detention in…