In re J.C. CA2/8

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY1

In December 2013, acting on a child abuse petition filed by the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (the department), the dependency court detained seven-year-old J.C. and her three-year-old brother J.E. The petition alleged that mother J.O. (mother) and her male companion Giovanni G., habitually struck the children in a variety of ways: mother struck J.E. in the mouth with her finger or otherwise struck the child; Giovanni would slap J.E.’s hand, causing him to call his sister for help; Giovanni pulled J.E.’s ears and arms and slapped his back and buttocks; Giovanni slapped J.C. on the back of her head, once causing her to fall; mother would pull and scratch J.C.’s ears, leaving red marks; and mother had so physically and emotionally abused J.C. that the child talked of suicide. J.C.’s father was L.C., while J.E.’s father was E.E. In 2009, after L.C.’s arrest for threatening mother with a knife, J.C. reported that E.E., who was then mother’s boyfriend, had touched her inappropriately and placed a knife at her stomach. J.C. admitted that her father, L.C., told her to say those things and the matter was closed on the ground…