In re G.L. CA6

I. INTRODUCTION

D.L. is the father of G.L., the child at issue in this juvenile dependency case, which is the subject of two separate notices of appeal by the father and one notice of appeal by the Ketchikan Indian Community, which was determined to be the child’s Indian Tribe for purposes of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). At a selection and implementation hearing held pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code section 366.26,1 the juvenile court found that the child was adoptable and that the beneficial parent-child relationship exception to termination of parental rights did not apply (see § 366.26, subd. (c)(1)(B)(i)), but the juvenile court did not terminate parental rights. The juvenile court also found good cause to not follow ICWA guidelines regarding the child’s placement and ordered her continued placement with the de facto parents, who were nonrelative caregivers, instead of with extended family members. (See § 361.31, subds. (b), (h).) The juvenile court directed the Ketchikan Indian Community to submit a plan of tribal customary adoption (see § 366.26, subd. (c)(2)(B)(iii)), then continued the selection and implementation hearing to give the Ketchikan Indian…