Brody

On March 18, 1977, Fred J. and Antoinette J., minors, were declared dependent children of the San Joaquin County Juvenile Court under Welfare and Institutions Code section 300, subdivision (a). 1 The minors were permitted to remain in the physical custody of their mother, subject to certain orders of the juvenile court.

On November 9, 1977, the San Joaquin Department of Public Assistance filed separate petitions as to each child, requesting modification of the previous custody disposition. The petitions alleged that placement with the mother had been ineffective to provide for the *173 minors’ welfare, which latter required that the minors’ placement be removed from the mother.

Pursuant to rule, the court appointed separate attorneys for the mother and for the children. (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 1363(c).) After a hearing the juvenile court ordered that custody of the minors be taken from the mother and placed in the San Joaquin County Department of Public Assistance for ultimate placement in a foster home, group home, or dependent children’s facility. From this judgment the mother appeals.

I

The petition alleges that “[y]our petitioner [the department] believes that…

I concur in sections I, II and IV of the majority opinion and that portion of section III-A which recognizes the availability of a motion akin to a demurrer to test the sufficiency of the petition (ante, p. 175). As to the balance of the opinion, I must respectfully dissent.

As the majority recognizes, both the statute and due process require that the petition allege facts. (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 387; In re J. T. (1974) 40 Cal.App.3d 633, 639 [ 115 Cal.Rptr. 553 ].) As a practical matter, the petition’s allegations provide no meaningful notice of what facts the mother was required to meet at trial. The charging allegations of the petition are an incongruous melange of factual allegations, conclusionaiy descriptions, opinion and pejorative comment. Thus, the petition does not assert that the mother prevented contact between the placement social worker and the minors (a fact), but rather “meaningful contact” (at best an evaluation of undisclosed facts); in like manner, the petition does not assert that the mother did not obtain mental health counseling for the minors (a fact), but only that she did not obtain “appropriate” mental health counseling (an opinion or pejorative…