T.S.

FACTS

In September 2019, D.S., then age 13, and her brother, K.S.,2 then age 16, were taken into custody on a protective custody warrant after SSA learned their father (Father) had left them alone in a motel room for several days without sufficient food, and Mother’s whereabouts were unknown.

2 Since the filing of the petition K.S. has turned 18 and aged out of the dependency system.

3 The children were placed in the home of their paternal uncle and aunt on September 11, 2019, and efforts were made to contact Mother. When Mother was located in Indiana, she explained to SSA she had lost contact with the children approximately seven years earlier after a court in Michigan gave custody to Father and allowed him to move to California. Mother claimed she had not learned that was happening until the last minute because Father had sent notice of the hearing to an address that he knew she no longer used. She stated she tried to hire an attorney to fight the custody order, but she was unable to find one who would take her case. She asserted that after Father took the children to California, he changed his phone number, as did other paternal family members she tried to reach. Mother also…