In re J.W.

BACKGROUND

In December 2017, DCFS filed a section 300 petition alleging nine-year-old J.W. was placed at substantial risk of serious harm when Mother allowed a registered sex offender to live in the family home with unlimited access to J.W. J.W.’s half- brother is a former dependent of the court, having been adopted by maternal grandmother in 2009.

Undesignated statutory references are to the Welfare and Institutions Code.

2 When the petition was filed on December 4, 2017, the whereabouts of Mother and J.W. were unknown. On December 5, the juvenile court ordered J.W. detained and issued a protective custody order for her and an arrest warrant for Mother. The Detention Report includes a cursory statement, “The Indian Child Welfare Act does not apply.” Six months later, on June 1, 2018, Mother contacted DCFS. On June 6, 2018, J.W. was present in court, detained, and placed with her maternal uncle and aunt. On August 13, 2018, Mother and the alleged father were present in court (father is not a party to this appeal). Each filed Parental Notification of Indian Status forms stating no known Indian ancestry. The juvenile court found no reason to know J.W. was an Indian child…