Orange County Social Services Agency v. Joshua L.

An alleged father waited three and a half years, until the filing of a third dependency petition concerning his alleged child, before requesting paternity testing. He had never developed any relationship with the child, and had declined to participate in all previous dependency hearings. The juvenile court denied the request, finding the question of biological paternity irrelevant where the man would not qualify as a presumed father. We affirm.

Factual and Procedural Background

This is the third round of dependency proceedings for five-year-old Joshua R. (the minor). He was first taken into protective custody on February 4, 1997, immediately after his birth to an incarcerated and drug-addicted 17-year-old mother. Mary R. was in juvenile hall for theft and drug offenses.

*1023 She did not know the identity of the minor’s father, but named three possible candidates, including appellant, whom she identified only as “Josh.” The court made a due diligence finding as to efforts to locate the alleged fathers, and entered their defaults. The minor remained in foster care until March 26, 1998, when the court terminated the dependency proceedings upon finding Mary had complied…