Miller v. California

We must decide two related. questions arising out of a protracted and contentious dependency dispute: whether noncustodial grandparents, acting as de facto parents to grandchildren who are dependents of the juvenile court, have a substantive due process right to family integrity and association with those grandchildren; and whether placing the grandfather’s name on the California Child Abuse Central Index (CACI) violates his constitutional right to due process.

Charles and Patricia Miller are grandparents of three young girls who had been removed from their natural parents because of neglect. They brought an action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the County of Yuba, Yuba County Human Services Agency, Yuba County Child Protective Services (CPS), and CPS employees, 1 for *1174 conspiring to deprive them of the right to family integrity and for placing Charles Miller’s name on the CACI. The district court granted Yuba County’s motion for summary judgment, concluding that the Millers have no constitutional right to visit their grandchildren when the children are dependents of the juvenile court, and CPS, as well as the children’s biological mother, agree that visitation should cease.…