Sonoma Cnty. Human Servs. Dep't v. Heather B. (In re C.W.)

*837 *466 Heather, the mother of a 16-year-old boy, C.W. who entered the child dependency system at age 10, appeals the juvenile court's orders terminating this dependency case and awarding sole legal and physical custody of C.W. to his father, Rusty, who lives in Louisiana. We reverse.

The orders appealed from here were the culmination of a series of rulings by the Sonoma County juvenile court that Heather asks us to review. After it terminated reunification services early for both parents and adopted a permanent plan, the juvenile court returned a minor to the custody of a parent who is an admitted, convicted child sex abuser, failed to reunify with his son, *838 participated in barely any reunification services, engaged in no sexual abuse counseling, and lives on the other side of the continental United States, far away from the watchful eye of even the most conscientious local child welfare officials. This began, without notice, as a "trial home visit" with the boy's father after reunification had already failed. The visit then transformed into a new permanent plan of "family maintenance" with his father, again with no notice or hearing. Regrettably, while living with his…