In re M.S. CA3

BACKGROUND

Mother, an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, and Gaylon M. (father), share two children together, two-year-old Z.M. and nine-month-old G.M. Mother also has four-year-old M.S. from a previous relationship. 1 On August 9, 2020, the Yolo County Health and Human Services Agency (Agency) received a referral about the family. It was reported that mother and father were arrested for misdemeanor child endangerment due to the family living in their unsanitary car filled with trash where the three children had access to medication bottles and a container of gasoline. The parents were booked and released, but law enforcement took all three children into protective custody. The original report to law enforcement came in after someone reported seeing mother hit M.S. on the chest, arm, and head. Two days later, on August 11, the Agency filed a petition in the juvenile court alleging the children came within Welfare and Institutions Code section 300, subdivision (b)(1).2 The petition alleged mother and father failed to provide adequate food, clothing, and shelter for all three children, placing them at substantial risk of serious physical harm, and recounted the…