In re A.J. CA2/3

BACKGROUND

1. Events leading to filing of section 300 petition Mother’s and father’s twin daughters A.J. and E.J. were declared dependents of the juvenile court on November 24, 2020, under section 300, subdivisions (a), (b), and (j). The juvenile court sustained allegations in an amended petition that the twins were at risk of physical and emotional harm based on father’s violence against mother—including shooting her in May 2018 while she was at home with the children—and mother’s failure to protect the children; father’s unresolved history of illicit drug use; and mother’s history of substance abuse and current abuse of alcohol and marijuana. Father is not a party to this appeal.

Statutory references are to the Welfare and Institutions Code.

2 Mother challenges the jurisdictional finding based on her substance abuse. She does not challenge the jurisdictional findings based on father’s conduct or her own failure to protect the children from father’s conduct. The family came to the Department’s attention in late December 2019 when mother called the Department’s hotline to ask for help with her teenage daughter M.C.’s behavior.2 The Department investigated. M.C. had…