In re Y.C. CA2/4

BACKGROUND

I. Referral and Petition

The family consists of mother, M.C., father, their child Y. (born 2013), and mother’s three other children, A. (born 2004), S. (born 2005), and J. (born 2007).2 The family came to the attention of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) on February 11, 2019, after A. told a school staff member that mother threatened to kill him and herself with a gun. A. stated he was afraid for his siblings in the home. The school staff member called the police, expressing concerns about sending A. home. A DCFS children’s social worker (CSW) spoke with A. (then age 14) at the police station on February 11, 2019. A. reported that he was fed “if mother has enough money,” but that “sometimes there is no food.” A. stated that father (A.’s stepfather) smoked marijuana in the home every day. He also told the CSW that on one occasion, mother and father were arguing about “his money and his drugs,” and that A. tried to break up the argument but was almost “hit with the gun in the face.” A. also stated that father had hit and injured J. and S. When asked about mother and father fighting, A. recalled an incident where father hit…