M.S.

M.S., plaintiff and appellant, is the father of A.S., the subject of a Welfare and Institutions Code section 300 1 petition that Riverside County Department of Public Social Services (DPSS) filed on August 4, 2000, after A.S.’s mother claimed that M.S. (hereafter father) had physically abused her and then eight-month-old A.S.

Father made admissions that he had hit A.S. to get her to stop crying, but not hard enough to cause injury. He also admitted to tying the baby’s arms down to keep her from putting her hands in her mouth. At the combined jurisdiction and disposition hearing held on November 28, 2000, father *1513 submitted on the jurisdictional reports. The juvenile court sustained the petition, declared A.S. a dependent of the court, and ordered reunification services for father.

The juvenile court eventually returned A.S. to her mother’s custody. On March 29, 2001, DPSS submitted an ex parte request to terminate jurisdiction. Without conducting a hearing the court terminated jurisdiction and ordered no contact between father and A.S. Father appealed. On December 27, 2001, we reversed the order terminating jurisdiction in case No. E029589 2 and remanded the matter…