Department of Social Services v. Ernestine A.

This appeal is from a dispositional judgment by the juvenile court renewing the dependency status of minor Walter E. (Walter) and committing him to the San Francisco Department of Social Services (the Department) for placement, planning, and supervision. Appellant Ernestine A. (Ernestine), the minor’s mother, contends that the juvenile court committed prejudicial error in permitting a psychologist the Department selected to examine the minor and testify as an expert regarding his best interests; that the court denied her due process in refusing to appoint a second psychologist of her own choosing to examine the minor; and that the evidence does not support the court’s findings. We disagree and affirm.

Factual and Procedural Background

Walter was born on November 2, 1976. In August 1989, the Department received an anonymous report that Ernestine was addicted to crack cocaine; that she was using food stamps and money from Aid to Families With Dependent Children (AFDC) to purchase drugs; that her four children, aged four through thirteen, were not being fed or clothed properly and begged from door to door for food; and that their house was filthy, unsafe, and unsanitary.…