Santa Clara County Department of Social Services v. Kirk G.

Appellants Mary and Kirk G. appeal from an order of the juvenile court following a contested permanency planning hearing. The court ordered that the permanent plan for appellants’ children, Corienna and Sean G., should be for long-term foster care or relative placement. Appellants allege that at this hearing the court erred in denying them further reunification services, failed to consider placing the children with relatives, and failed to make a finding of the probability that the children would be returned to their parents’ custody within six months. Although the court failed to make this latter determination expressly, we conclude it can be implied from the record. Since we find no other error, we will affirm the trial court’s order.

Factual Background

Corienna and Sean, then aged four and one-and-a-half, were first taken into protective custody on April 26, 1985, in Solano County in response to allegations that they had been neglected and that Corienna had been sexually abused. An amended petition was filed on May 19, 1985, alleging that the children came within the provisions of Welfare and Institutions Code section 300, subdivisions (a) and (d). The petition was…