Alameda County Social Services Agency v. Kimberly H.

I. INTRODUCTION

The juvenile court dismissed this dependency case and granted physical custody of eight-year-old Nicholas H. to his presumed father, Thomas G. Nicholas’s mother, Kimberly H., contends the juvenile court (1) lacked jurisdiction to dismiss this case, (2) applied the wrong test for determining whether Nicholas should be returned to Kimberly’s care, and (3) erroneously restrained Kimberly from telling Nicholas that Thomas is not his biological father. We affirm.

II. STATEMENT OF FACTS AND PROCEDURE

The factual circumstances which led to the filing of this dependency case have been discussed in numerous prior opinions of this court and were also summarized in a published decision by our Supreme Court in In re Nicholas H. (2002) 28 Cal.4th 56 [ 120 Cal.Rptr.2d 146 , 46 P.3d 932 ] (Nicholas I). In light of the discrete issues presented in this appeal, we simply note the following salient details. In February 2000, the Fremont Police Department *257 placed Nicholas in the custody of the Alameda County Social Services Agency (Agency) after Kimberly and Thomas accused each other of misconduct and questioned each other’s right to custody of Nicholas. A petition…