In re Z. S.

BACKGROUND

A petition filed April 22, 2008 by the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) alleged that D.A., born late 2007, and his half-brother Z.S., born early 2006, were at risk of harm under Welfare and Institutions Code section 300, subdivisions (a), (b), and (as to Z.S. only) (g) and (j).1 The children had been living with S.S. (mother), who had a history of violent altercations with father in the children’s presence, including father’s striking mother’s face and stomach when she was pregnant with D.A. D.A. and Z.S. were placed together in foster care. The petition gave father’s address as Whitney Way (the Whitney Way address), the home of the paternal grandparents. The April 18, 2008 detention report stated that father told the social worker he was staying with D.A. at the paternal grandparents’ other house at “43141.” A report on April 29, 2008 gave the 43141 address for father, and gave the Whitney Way address as the mailing address. Father, represented by counsel, appeared at the April 22, 2008 detention hearing, and the court found that he was D.A.’s presumed father. Father’s counsel confirmed that the address on the petition was correct…