In re Kendall J. CA2/1

BACKGROUND

Kendall J. was born in an Orange County hospital. When she was under three weeks old, on August 11, 2014, the Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) received a child abuse and neglect referral reporting that mother smoked marijuana and took methadone. The reporter suspected that Kendall was still in the hospital because she was withdrawing from drugs mother used during her pregnancy. In March 2014, while mother was pregnant, the reporting party smelled marijuana in mother’s room, and in April 2014 mother had tested positive for opiates. A DCFS social worker went to the hospital the same day, and met with mother and a hospital social worker (HSW). The HSW had contacted Orange County child protection services, but no referral was made as mother lived in Los Angeles County. The HSW stated that mother had been forthcoming about her history of heroin use and had reported that she was receiving methadone treatment at Western Pacific Stanton Medical Center (Western Pacific), and had received prenatal care in Los Angeles County. When mother gave birth, she was on 88 mg of methadone daily which she had since decreased to 44 mg, and she was behaving…