In re A.H.

BACKGROUND

I. Proceedings in the Juvenile Court

On June 6, 2022, the Napa County Health and Human Services Agency (Department) filed a petition alleging that newborn A.H. (Minor) came within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court under Welfare and Institutions Code section 300, subdivisions (b), (g) and (j).1 Minor was detained and placed in a foster home. In a jurisdiction/disposition report filed in July 2022, the Department recommended that the juvenile court sustain the allegations in the petition, bypass reunification services to Minor’s mother, and continue Minor’s placement in a foster home.2 The Department reported that J.B. had been assessed for placement as a nonrelative extended family member, but that her request for placement had been denied. There is no dispute that J.B. is a first cousin, twice removed, to Minor and is therefore Minor’s relative in the sixth degree of kinship. Thus, although J.B. is biologically related to Minor, she is not a “relative” for purposes of preferential consideration for placement of a child who is removed from parental custody under section 361. (See § 361.3, subd. (c)(2) [defining “relative” as an adult related to the child within…