In re Scarlett V.

INTRODUCTION

The Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services filed a petition alleging Scarlett V. came within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court under Welfare and Institutions Code section 300. After the juvenile court sustained the petition, Scarlett—who was born in Honduras—filed a request for Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ) findings under Code of Civil Procedure section 155.1 The juvenile court denied the request, ruling the findings were “discretionary.” Because the court committed legal error, and because Scarlett submitted unimpeached and uncontradicted evidence that required the court to enter an order with the findings Scarlett requested under section 155, we reverse.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. The Juvenile Court Sustains a Petition Under Welfare and Institutions Code Section 300 Scarlett was born in Honduras in 2013. Scarlett’s mother, Karen M., and her father, Franklin V., were also born in Honduras. The family moved to the United States in 2015.

Undesignated statutory references are to the Code of Civil Procedure.

2 Karen and Franklin also have a younger daughter who was born in the United States. In July 2019 the Department…