In re C.R. CA2/5

I. BACKGROUND

In April 2015, Mother and two-year-old C.R. travelled from Louisiana to California and arrived with no money. Mother sought out and obtained temporary crisis housing assistance from LA Family Housing, a homelessness and poverty assistance organization (LA Housing). After approximately one month in crisis housing, Mother and C.R. moved to a motel using vouchers obtained from the Los Angeles Department of Public Social Services. The motel where Mother and C.R. were staying, The Village Inn, was located on Lankershim Boulevard in North Hollywood. The door to their room opened immediately onto an alleyway, with a driveway a short distance away to the right (when facing out of the room) that opened onto Lankershim Boulevard. An LA Housing staff member visited Mother and her daughter at the motel on June 15, 2015, and after the visit, DCFS received a referral from LA Housing alleging general neglect of C.R. by Mother. According to the referral, when the LA Housing staff member arrived at the motel room, Mother was smoking a cigarette and C.R. was lying on the bed drinking a soda. When Mother opened the door and spoke to the staff member, two-year-old C.R. wandered out of…