In re K.S. CA2/3

BACKGROUND

In 2004, father and mother2 lost parental rights to K.S.’s older twin brothers, who were adopted by paternal cousin, S.J. In the twins’ proceeding, the juvenile court found ICWA did not apply.3 K.S. first became a dependent of the juvenile court in 2013. The court never removed her from parental custody and terminated its jurisdiction in 2016. The petition in the instant

1All further unspecified statutory references are to the Welfare and Institutions Code. Mother is not a party to this appeal. 3 The juvenile court’s finding ICWA did not apply to K.S.’s twin siblings has no bearing on our conclusion here. The record does not indicate what statements or inquiry, if any, was made 17 years ago, and the law has developed since then.

2 case was filed in 2018. As sustained, DCFS alleged K.S. was a dependent of the juvenile court under section 300, subdivision (b) (failure to protect) due to her parents’ domestic violence and failure to reunify with the older twins, and father’s failure to protect K.S. Initially both parents verbally reported they had no Indian ancestry. The parents then filed ICWA-020 forms for the April 2018 detention hearing. While mother denied…