Melissa R. v. Superior Court

At the conclusion of the dispositional hearing for C.R. (bom Sept. 2006), the San Francisco Superior Court, Juvenile Division, denied reunification services for Melissa R. (Mother) pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code 1 section 361.5, subdivision (b)(10), and set the matter for a hearing under section 366.26 to select a permanent plan for C.R.

Mother challenges these orders by petition for extraordinary writ. As discussed below, we conclude in this case of first impression that the juvenile court erred in denying reunification services under section 361.5, subdivision (b)(10). The evidence showed a half brother of C.R.’s had previously been removed from Mother’s custody, and Mother subsequently failed to reunify with him, but it also showed the half sibling had been removed pursuant to Wisconsin law, and not “pursuant to Section 361” as the statute expressly requires. Accordingly we grant Mother’s petition.

I. Background

Mother admitted she began using heroin when she was still a minor and had been an addict for many years. When she became pregnant with C.R., however, she became “really serious” about overcoming her addiction, completed a residential treatment…