In re L.S. CA2/8

BACKGROUND

When this dependency proceeding began in October 2015, two-year-old L.S. lived with her father and his wife J. (whom the juvenile court referred to as L.S.’s presumed mother). L.S. had been removed from her biological mother’s care, and her biological mother’s reunification services previously had been terminated with no visitation. At the request of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), father tested for controlled substances. He tested positive for methamphetamine on October 7, 2015. On October 29, 2015, the juvenile court allowed father to return to his home, but forbade him from being alone with L.S. The juvenile court admonished father to stop using methamphetamine. Father initially did not stop using methamphetamine, and he tested positive for amphetamine and methamphetamine on October 29 and November 24, 2015. Father tested negative on December 1, 2015. (Father missed one test, but the social worker confirmed that the testing site was closed on his test day.) When first interviewed, father initially denied using methamphetamine. He later admitted that he used methamphetamine in the summer of 2015 at a party he attended, and…