San Diego County Department of Social Services v. Rusell S.

We granted review to decide whether a juvenile court may rely on “social studies” 1 prepared by a social worker when determining *373 whether a minor falls within its jurisdiction under Welfare and Institutions Code 2 section 300, subdivision (d). 3 We conclude the reports are competent to support such a determination and accordingly affirm the decision of the Court of Appeal so holding.

I. Background

Malinda S. was born in June 1983. Her parents, Carol S. and Russell S., married in August 1984 and separated in January 1986. After the separation Malinda lived with her father on weekdays and spent weekends with her mother. Russell’s grandmother helped care for Malinda during the week.

Carol claimed to have noticed behavioral changes in Malinda beginning in April 1987. According to Carol, Malinda became withdrawn, cried more readily, became upset when she saw people without clothes, and threw temper tantrums when it was time to return to her father’s home. On September 11, 1987, Carol picked up Malinda from Russell’s grandmother and took her home. That evening Carol gave Malinda a bath and believed she noticed a strong odor emanating from Malinda’s vaginal area (which…

I respectfully dissent.

In its introductory sentence, the majority opinion poses the issue before us as “whether a juvenile court may rely on ‘social studies’ prepared by a social worker when determining whether a minor falls within its jurisdiction under Welfare and Institutions Code section 300, subdivision (d).” (Maj. opn., ante, pp. 372-373, italics added, fns. omitted.) The opinion, however, goes on to hold not simply that a juvenile court may properly rely on a social study or probation report in determining whether a child is a depen *386 dent child for purposes of Welfare and Institutions Code section 300, 1 but rather that a juvenile court may rely solely on such a study or report in making its dependency determination, even if the report consists entirely of hearsay or multiple hearsay statements that would not ordinarily be admissible in the trial of a civil case, and even if there is no other evidence that would ordinarily be admissible in the trial of a civil case that supports the finding of dependency.

In my view, the majority’s conclusion is inconsistent with the language and legislative history of section 355. I agree with the majority that under section 355 a…