In re C.A. CA2/3

BACKGROUND

I. The petitions and adjudication

The family consists of mother, father, C.A. (born September 2020), and K.P. (born September 2021). Mother and father were never married. Father is C.A.’s alleged father and K.P.’s presumed father. Mother and father’s history of domestic violence brought the family to DCFS’s attention. That history included an incident in November 2020 during which father assaulted mother and brandished a pocketknife at her while she was holding C.A. Father was arrested as a result of that incident.

2 In December 2020, DCFS filed a petition as to C.A. under Welfare and Institutions Code1 section 300 alleging that the parents’ domestic violence placed C.A. at risk of serious physical harm, damage, and danger (§ 300, subd. (a); count a-1) and mother failed to protect C.A. from father’s violence (§ 300, subd. (b); count b-1).2 At the detention hearing, the court noted that father and mother were living together when C.A. was born and father was present for C.A.’s birth, but he had not signed the birth certificate. The court thus said that father would likely qualify as a presumed father but nonetheless deferred paternity findings. The court detained…