San Diego County Health & Human Services Agency v. Rodney T.

These appeals arise from the court’s application of the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (the Act) (Earn. Code, § 3400 et seq.) 1 during a Welfare and Institutions Code section 300 (hereafter section 300) proceeding on behalf of seven-year-old C. T. C.’s parents, Rodney T. and Leslie M., separately appeal the court’s order placing C. with Leslie and terminating its dependency jurisdiction over C. Rodney contends the true finding that C. is a person described by section 300 and the order placing C. with Leslie must be reversed because they are findings and an order the court was not authorized to make under the Act. He also contends the court did not comply with the Act’s procedural requirements. Leslie contends the court should not have terminated its dependency jurisdiction over C. Because we conclude the court was not authorized under the Act to make the challenged finding, we reverse that finding. However, because the material evidence introduced to support the finding supports an order the court was authorized to make under the Act, we affirm the order placing C. with Leslie and terminating the juvenile court’s jurisdiction over C.

Factual and…