In re A.H. CA2/3

BACKGROUND

I. Procedural background and the prior appeal

We rely on the prior appeal, In re A.H., supra, B302022 for part of the factual background.2 As the result of the family’s extensive child welfare history, DCFS filed a petition under section 300, subdivision (b)(1) on behalf of Am.H. (age 10), Al.H. (age 8), Ad.H. (age 7), Ai.H. (age 5), and An.H. (age 4), alleging that mother and father’s substance abuse rendered them unable to care for or to protect the children. For the detention hearing in 2017, father filed a parental notification of Indian status form in which he checked the box indicating that he may have Indian ancestry and wrote, “Cherokee–MGM.” He added paternal grandmother’s name and telephone number, and paternal great-grandmother’s name. At the hearing, paternal grandmother told the juvenile court that she had Cherokee ancestry but was not a registered member of the tribe. She also mentioned the Navajo Nation. She stated that paternal great-great-grandmother (the children’s second great grandmother) and their third great grandmother, who are deceased, were “full Indian” and registered with the tribe, but did not live on the reservation. She stated that…