Orange County Department of Social Services v. Dolores T.

Delores T. (Mother) appeals from a Welfare and Institutions Code section 300 jurisdictional order declaring her then 16-year-old son, James, a dependent child of the court and the dispositional order placing him with his sister and brother-in-law in Crestline. She contends there was not clear and convincing evidence James was suffering the statutorily prescribed severe emotional damage to justify taking him from her physical custody. (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 361, subd. (b)(3).) She is correct and, therefore, the dispositional order of the juvenile court must be reversed. However, as there was substantial evidence to sustain the jurisdictional finding, the section 300 order is affirmed and the matter is remanded to the juvenile court for a new dispositional hearing.

James is the youngest of five siblings. His father abandoned him when he was two and one-half and Mother has been his sole source of support, although financially she faced many challenges as a single parent. She complained of her financial problems around James, often attributing her plight to his father. In spite of a rather splotchy employment record, she managed to feed and clothe him. She also helped him…