In re K.B. CA2/4

BACKGROUND

K.B. was born in July 2009. He initially was detained from mother’s and father’s care in April 2018, and the Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services (the Department) filed a petition under Welfare and Institutions Code1 section 300. The juvenile court sustained the petition as to mother in June 2018 and ordered K.B. removed from mother’s care. The sustained petition alleged two claims: (1) while K.B. was a passenger in her car, mother engaged in a verbal and violent altercation with father, drove her car into father’s car, and drove recklessly; and (2) mother physically abused K.B. by striking him with her hands, belts, shoes, and a cell phone. Over the next year, mother completed a parenting program and 20 weeks of an anger management course, and, for a short time, she participated in individual and conjoint counseling with K.B. as ordered by the juvenile court. In mid-June 2019, a year after the petition was sustained, the court released K.B. to mother; although his primary residence was with father, K.B. stayed with mother from Friday through Monday mornings. As soon as the juvenile court released K.B. to her in June 2019, mother ended both her…