In re Vanessa C. CA2/7

INTRODUCTION

Jovanni F., father of four-year-old J.F. and three-year-old V.F., appeals from the juvenile court’s jurisdiction findings and disposition orders declaring J.F. and V.F. dependent children of the court under Welfare and Institutions Code section 300 and removing them from his care.1 Jovanni challenges the court’s jurisdiction findings under section 300, subdivisions (a) and (b)(1), based on his and his girlfriend’s history of domestic altercations; the court’s jurisdiction findings under section 300, subdivisions (b)(1), (d), and (j), based on his sexual abuse of his children’s older sibling; and the disposition orders based on these findings. He also contends the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services failed to comply with the inquiry requirements of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) (25 U.S.C. § 1901 et seq.) and related California law. We conclude that the juvenile court erred in sustaining the petition under section 300, subdivision (a), based on Jovanni and his girlfriend’s domestic altercations, but that the court did not err in sustaining the petition on that ground under section 300, subdivision (b)(1). We also conclude that the…