L. A. Cnty. Dep't of Children & Family Servs. v. D.Y. (In re D.Y.)

The juvenile court placed appellant D.Y. under the legal guardianship of his maternal grandmother in 2001, when he was an infant. The court retained dependency jurisdiction over D.Y. for the next 16 years, conducting review hearings every six months. At one such review hearing in late 2017, the court terminated dependency jurisdiction over the objections of D.Y. and grandmother and against the recommendation of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). The court denied D.Y.'s request for a continuance to enable DCFS to provide additional information about D.Y.'s educational and orthodontic issues, and to enable D.Y. and grandmother to be present for a contested hearing on terminating jurisdiction.

In this appeal, D.Y. challenges the termination of jurisdiction, which he contends was prohibited by Welfare and Institutions Code section 366.3, subdivision (a) ( section 366.3(a) ) 1 due to grandmother's objections. In the alternative, he argues that the trial court abused its discretion by denying his request to continue the matter. We disagree with D.Y.'s interpretation of section 366.3(a), but agree that the court abused its discretion by denying…