Brendan O. v. Merced County Human Services Agency

I concur in the majority opinion. I write separately to express my perspective about the circumstances in this case that must be examined in the context of a prescriptive, complex statutory scheme intended to achieve some level of stability for children in distress.

As the nature of family life continues to change in our culture—including parental absence and social pathologies that can do great harm to children— our legal system is constantly faced with the challenge of discerning and applying the law in a manner that is true to legislative intent and in the best interest of the children involved. Unlike so many causes where fashioning rules of conduct, managing behavior, and resolving conflicts are a rather straightforward, logical exercise with a foundation in the experience and wisdom of the ages, the development of dependency laws has undergone great change in the past few decades to meet the needs of children growing up in an environment that bears little resemblance to the television families of the ’50’s and ’60’s.

When dealing with the frailties of the most basic and important societal unit, the law that grapples with its failure is abstruse. Judgments that are made in…

On May 22, 2008, the trial court entered its order for a bonding study to examine the nature of the bonds between the minors, Mickel O. and Mallory R, and their four grandparents. On the same date, pursuant to the grandparents’ agreement, the trial court also entered an order that the Merced County Human Services Agency (agency) facilitate a “family group decision-making conference.” But no such conference ever occurred. Instead, the agency referred the parties to private *623 mediation. 1 Yet, for reasons not explained in the record (except through dueling accusations), nothing came either of this referral to mediation or of the grandparents’ request for a group decisionmaking conference.

Approximately two years and 19 hearings later, the trial court abandoned all efforts to encourage a settlement between the grandparents and peremptorily excluded the maternal grandparents from any part in the children’s lives. I agree with my colleagues that this was error.

I write to encourage the superior courts to heed the words of the California Legislature in Welfare and Institutions Code section 350, subdivision (a)(2): “Each juvenile court is encouraged to develop a dependency mediation…

Brendan O. (maternal grandfather), maternal grandfather of Mickel O. and Mallory P. (collectively, the children), appeals the juvenile court’s denial of his petition, filed pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code section 388, requesting that the court place the children with the maternal grandparents (maternal grandparents) or, in the alternative, provide maternal grandparents unsupervised visitation with the children. In addition, maternal grandfather specifically contends (1) the social worker violated his constitutional rights by searching his personal belongings; (2) the social worker did not comply with the juvenile court’s mediation order; (3) the agency 1 and the juvenile court failed to investigate referrals made regarding abuse and neglect of the children while in the paternal grandparents’ (paternal grandparents) care; (4) the social worker did not properly investigate allegations of mistreatment of Mallory; (5) the juvenile court failed to protect Mallory and failed to enforce the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act (Pen. Code, § 11164 et seq.); (6) the social worker’s report was biased and contained false information; (7) maternal grandparents should have…