In re Jesus M.

Jesus M., Sr. (Father), challenges the juvenile court’s order asserting jurisdiction over his two children, Jesus M., Jr. (Jesus), and Gissel M., under Welfare and Institutions Code section 300, subdivision (b), on the ground that substantial evidence did not support it. We hold that the court’s finding that Father’s conduct — harassing the children’s mother in violation of a family law restraining order and denigrating the mother to the children — placed the children at risk of emotional, but not physical, injury could not support assertion of jurisdiction under subdivision (b), which requires proof of physical harm or substantial risk of such harm. Accordingly, we reverse the court’s jurisdictional order and the dispositional and custody orders that derived from it.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. Family Law Proceedings

Elda M. (Mother) and Father were married in 2000 and separated in 2009 or 2010. Under a family law order, Mother had legal and physical custody of the children; Father had visitation three weekends per month. In June 2010, the family court issued a three-year restraining order, prohibiting Father from harassing Mother or contacting Mother except…