In re N.W. CA4/1

INTRODUCTION

N.S. (Mother) appeals from juvenile court orders that terminated dependency jurisdiction over her two young children, N.W. and H.W., and awarded joint legal custody to Mother and G.W. (Father) and primary physical custody to Father. She does not challenge the termination of dependency jurisdiction. Her sole contention on appeal is that the juvenile court abused its discretion by awarding Father with primary physical custody rather than equal physical custody of the children to both parents, as she had requested. Finding no abuse, we affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

I. Initiation of Dependency Proceedings Through Post-Disposition Review Orders Mother and Father, who are not married, lived with each other from approximately December 2014 to December 2019. They have two children, N.W. (age 6) and H.W. (age 3). The parents’ relationship involved a significant history of domestic violence. As Mother acknowledged in her opening brief on appeal, “Father and Mother were physically violent with each other, and the children saw some of the violence.” Mother also suffered from mental health illness, and was psychiatrically hospitalized twice in August 2019 as a…