Los Angeles County Department of Children & Family Services v. Walter D.

Father Walter D., mother Yvonne M., and children Ulysses D. and Lorelie H. appeal from the dependency court’s judgment. We modify the judgment and, as modified, affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Ulysses was bom in 1998 and his sister, Lorelei, was bom in 2000. In August 2002, the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (the department) filed a petition under Welfare and Institutions Code section 300 *1095 alleging mother Yvonne M. had physically abused Ulysses by hitting him. 1 The court detained the children, but shortly thereafter returned them to mother conditioned on her completing a parenting class. In December 2002, father Walter D., who had been in prison when mother hit Ulysses, was released from prison and moved back in with mother and children. Two months later he was rearrested and returned to prison for an offense unrelated to the dependency proceedings.

In the meantime, Glendale police had begun investigating mother and father for taking several photographs of themselves and the children in various states of undress while father was out of prison. (We will describe these pictures in further detail in the Discussion section of…