In re Andy M. CA4/1

BACKGROUND

In October 2013, the Agency filed a dependency petition for Andy, who was

nearly four years old. Andy was detained in foster care. The court had previously found

ICWA did not apply in all cases regarding the other children of Andy's mother, E.B. In

this case, the social worker did not ask E.B. about possible Indian heritage. At the

detention hearing in this case, Tyrone declared he might have Cherokee and Crow

ancestry and the paternal grandmother had information. The court found ICWA might

apply, deferred ruling on the issue and directed Tyrone to complete an ICWA-030 form

(Cal. Rules of Court, rule 5.481(a)(4)(A) [Notice of Child Custody Proceeding for Indian

Child]) and return it to the social worker.

At the next hearing, the court noted that in the dependency case of Tyrone and

E.B.'s son Eric M., "the court found there was no [ICWA] history." The court then asked

Tyrone if he had any new information. Tyrone said no. The court took "judicial notice

of the prior finding in this case, and [found] that ICWA does not apply in this case

because of a prior judicial ruling on January 28, 2009 in [Eric's] case . . . ."

2 In December 2013, the…