C.B.
Santa Clara County Department of Family & Children's Services v. C.B.
Opinion
Lead Opinion
Premo, J.
Appellant C.B. (mother) appeals from orders of the juvenile court removing seven-year-old D.C. from mother’s custody and ordering the child placed with her father. Mother contends that there was no substantial evidence to support the juvenile court’s jurisdictional finding that mother subjected D.C. to an act of cruelty because there was no evidence that mother intended to harm D.C. (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 300, subd. (i).) 1 We conclude that jurisdiction under the direct-infliction prong of section 300, subdivision (i) does not require a finding that the parent actually intended to harm the child.
I. Background
On June 26, 2010, San Jose Police received a report of a woman trying to drown a child in the fountain at the Rose Garden Park in San Jose. When police arrived they found D.C. near the fountain; her clothing was wet. Mother was on the grass nearby. D.C., who has cerebral palsy and suffers from right-side weakness and cognitive deficits, told the responding officer that mother had put her over the fence around the fountain, then climbed the fence herself and held D.C. under the water. D.C. said mother did not give her time to hold her breath. A woman in a blue…