In re R.H. CA2/3

BACKGROUND

I. Detention and petitions

The family consists of mother, father, and their three children, R.H. (born July 2012), Ev.H. (born January 2015), and Ernesto (born January 2016). In 2017, the family came to the attention of the Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) when mother gave birth to a premature child who died shortly thereafter. Mother tested positive for methamphetamine. Father, who had separated from mother, called her a “ ‘ghost,’ ” appearing and disappearing at whim from their lives. He said she did not want to be a mother and had left the two oldest children with him.

1All further undesignated statutory references are to the Welfare and Institutions Code. 2Father joins mother’s argument but states only that if the order terminating her parental rights is reversed, the order terminating his parental rights also must be reversed. (See, e.g., In re Mary G. (2007) 151 Cal.App.4th 184, 208 [court may not terminate rights of only one parent].) We therefore focus on mother.

2 In September 2017, DCFS filed a petition under section 300 alleging that parents’ use of illicit substances rendered them unable to care for the children, placed…