Los Angeles County Department of Children & Family Services v. Daniel R.

Yolanda R. and Daniel R., the mother and father of Andrea R., born September 16, 1990, appeal from a September 15, 1998, order terminating their parental rights (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 366.26) 1 and referring Andrea for adoption, six years after Andrea was removed from parental custody.

Appellants contend (1) after the establishment of a legal guardianship of Andrea, they were entitled to a full evidentiary hearing on the issue of changed circumstances under section 366.3, subdivision (c), prior to the court’s holding a new section 366.26 hearing; (2) the trial judge abused her discretion in terminating parental rights because she was new on the case, refused Yolanda R.’s request that Andrea testify, and failed to consider the strong parent/child relationship under section 366.26, subd. (c)(1)(A); and (3) the court abused its discretion in summarily denying a section 388 petition for modification lodged by Yolanda R. on April 29, 1998.

Factual and Procedural Background

At the time of Andrea’s birth in September 1990, Yolanda R. had quit using heroin and was in a prenatal methadone program; her two older daughters by a different father had been made dependents of the…