In re Sophia C. CA2/1

DISCUSSION

When DCFS files a petition under section 300 concerning a child, it has “an affirmative and continuing duty to inquire whether [the] child . . . is or may be an Indian child” within the meaning of ICWA. (§ 224.2, subd. (a); In re Antonio R. (2022) 76 Cal.App.5th

3 Pursuant to DCFS’s request, we take judicial notice of portions of the juvenile court’s reporter’s transcripts filed in a related appellate case, In re B.C. (appeal dismissed December 3, 2012, B243191), in which the maternal grandparents made these statements in 2012.

3 421, 429.) More particularly, when DCFS seeks foster care placement for the child, pre-adoptive placement, or termination of parental rights, it “must ask the child, if the child is old enough, and the parents, . . . extended family members, [and] others who have an interest in the child . . . whether the child is or may be an Indian child.” (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 5.481(a)(1).)4 Here, there is no evidence that DCFS ever asked any maternal relatives any questions to determine whether Sophia is or may be an Indian child. The grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins with whom social workers spoke are either “extended family member[s],” as…