J.M.
Los Angeles County Department of Children & Family Services v. J.M.
Opinion
lead Opinion
Rothschild, J.
*988 Opinion
The juvenile court found 13-year-old R.M. and his 10-year-old sister, S.M., to be dependent children of the court under Welfare and Institutions Code section 300, subdivision (b), 1 ordered them removed from their mother’s custody and placed them in separate foster homes. We conclude that the evidence is insufficient to support the petition as to mother. 2
PROCEEDINGS BELOW
A 2004 family law order awarded custody of R.M. and his sister, S.M., to mother and visitation rights to their father. In June 2008 the Los Angeles County Department of Family and Children Services (DCFS) filed a petition in juvenile court only under section 300, subdivision (b) alleging that R.M. and S.M. had suffered and were at substantial risk of suffering serious physical harm as a result of their parents’ inability to adequately supervise or protect them. The record does not disclose how the family came to the attention of the DCFS. Mother and father waived their right to a trial on the allegations and the court sustained the petition on the basis of the reports submitted by the DCFS.
The court found that “periodic episodes of inadequate supervision of the children” caused by mother and…