In re N.H. CA4/2

FACTS

In March 2023, when N.H. was eight years old, his mother, K.W. (Mother),

picked him up from an after-school program and drove him to the shelter for unhoused

families where Mother and N.H. resided. When they arrived at the shelter, Mother was

drunk. N.H. told a social worker from the Riverside County Department of Public

Social Services (the Department) that, while driving N.H., Mother recently rearended a

car on the freeway.

1 All subsequent statutory references will be to the Welfare and Institutions Code unless otherwise indicated.

2 Father did not reside at the family shelter because he “had been asked to leave

the [family] shelter a month prior for non-compliance.” Father lived at a shelter for

men. Father visited N.H. on a weekly basis and attended N.H.’s soccer games. N.H.

could not be placed with Father because the shelter where Father resided did not permit

minors.

“[Father] admitted to having an extensive criminal history of charges of driving

under the influence.” Father did not complete his DUI classes and does not intend to

complete them. N.H. told the Department social worker, “ ‘My dad knows that my

mom drinks. They both drink. I don’t feel…