In re G.D. CA2/5

I. BACKGROUND

In early June 2021, when Jac.D. was interrupting his teacher and other students in his class at school, Jac.D.’s teacher said Jac.D. would get in a lot of trouble when he’s older if he continued to act up; the teacher suggested people might want to hit or fight Jac.D. In response, Jac.D. said, “What if I get a gun?” A few days later, Jac.D.’s class was meeting via Zoom and discussing motivational quotes. The teacher asked the students to come up with more examples, and Jac.D. said “murder comes to people.” The Department was called thereafter and began investigating.

1 At the time dependency proceedings commenced, Father had full custody of Minors. Their mother, V.E., had limited to no contact with Minors and was not involved in the dependency proceedings.

2 The Department interviewed Father and each of the Minors. Father declined to consent to Jac.D. undergoing a mental health assessment and said he did not want any of his children to engage in any type of mental health services. When asked what Father believed the family needed, Father said he just wanted the Department to leave them alone. Jan.D. reported she used to have suicidal thoughts and used to cut her…