In re S.S. CA3

BACKGROUND

We limit our recitation of the background to those facts relevant to ICWA inquiry and noticing requirements and add additional facts in our discussion of the issues as necessary. On May 6, 2019, Butte County Department of Employment and Social Services (Butte Department) filed a section 300 petition on behalf of then three-year-old D.S. and then 23-month-old S.S., based on mother’s failure to provide adequate shelter and having left the minors without care upon her arrest for possession of controlled substances and paraphernalia. (§ 300, subds. (b)(1) & (g).) The minors had been detained from mother on May 2, 2019, and their alleged father was in custody in Alaska. They had been previously removed from mother’s custody in connection with an earlier dependency case. D.S. had been removed from mother’s custody in September 2016 and S.S. had been removed in June 2017, and they had been returned to mother on June 28, 2018 -- only a year before these proceedings were instituted. Mother was present and was appointed counsel at the May 2019 detention hearing. Mother reported that “[her] family is Native American, registered. A federally recognized tribe, my sister and my…