In re D.A.G. CA2/6

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Ventura County Child Welfare Services (CWS) learned in June of 2018 that mother and father were using drugs and leaving their infant son D.A.G. with grandparents for days at a time. CWS contacted mother and opened a voluntary family preservation case. She completed her program and obtained a restraining order against father, who had a history of criminal convictions and domestic violence.2 Mother gave birth to a second son, D.K.G., in October of 2018. Mother relapsed on methamphetamine in August of 2019. She agreed to enter rehabilitation but skipped her intake appointment and ceased communicating with case workers. This prompted CWS to initiate dependency proceedings for D.A.G. and D.K.G. under section 300, subdivision (b)(1). CWS eventually found mother and the two boys at a domestic violence shelter. Mother was pregnant with a third child by father. CWS detained the boys and placed them with confidential “resource parents”3 while mother sought inpatient substance abuse treatment. The juvenile court held a jurisdiction and disposition hearing for D.A.G. and D.K.G. on September 17, 2019. Mother consented to jurisdiction. The court offered…