M.P.

After placing a dependent child in the home of her grandparents on an emergency basis, the Alameda County Social Services Agency (Agency) discovered that the grandfather had a criminal history rendering the home ineligible as a formal relative placement. (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 361.4.) 1 The Agency moved the child from the grandparents’ home and filed a petition under section 387, while the grandfather sought a criminal history exemption that would have allowed the home to be considered as a placement. (§ 361.4, subd. (d)(2).) This exemption request was ultimately denied by the Agency.

In an unfortunately protracted and possibly unnecessary proceeding under section 387, the juvenile court reviewed the propriety of the move from the grandparents’ home and the Agency’s decision to deny the grandfather’s criminal records exemption. After a series of hearings over 17 months, the court dismissed the Agency’s section 387 petition and ordered the child placed with her grandparents. The Agency appeals, arguing that the placement order was unauthorized in light of the grandfather’s unexempted criminal history, and that the juvenile court should have granted the section 387…