Orange County Social Services Agency v. Stacy S.

In a juvenile dependency appeal from an order terminating parental rights, may the Court of Appeal receive and consider post-judgment evidence that was never before the juvenile court, and rely on such evidence outside the record on appeal to reverse the judgment? The general answer is no, although in the rare and compelling case an exception may be *400 warranted. In this case the Court of Appeal erred in receiving and considering such postjudgment evidence, presented for the first time through the unsworn statements of the minor’s appointed appellate counsel in a letter brief, and in further relying on that evidence to reverse the juvenile court’s order and judgment terminating parental rights. Accordingly, the judgment of the Court of Appeal must be reversed.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Stacy S. (mother) appealed from an order and judgment of the Orange County Juvenile Court terminating her parental rights pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code section 366.26. 1 The minor, Zeth S., was born in February 1997, and was first taken into protective custody by the Orange County Social Services Agency (agency) on July 2, 1998, at age 17 months. A juvenile…