In re A.M.















Filed 8/3/10 In
re A.M. CA5













NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS

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California
Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or
relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except
as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This
opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for
purposes of rule 8.1115.





IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FIFTH APPELLATE DISTRICT




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In re A.M., Jr., a Person Coming Under the Juvenile Court Law.
KERN COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. D.B., Defendant and Appellant.	F059530 (Super. Ct. No. JD109286-01) >OPINION

THE COURT^*

APPEAL from an order of the
Superior Court of Kern County. Peter Warmerdam, Referee.

Linda J. Conrad, under appointment
by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

Theresa A.
Goldner, County Counsel, and Judith M. Denny, Deputy County Counsel, for
Plaintiff and Respondent.

-ooOoo-

D.B.
(mother) appeals from an order terminating parental
rights (Welf. & Inst. Code § 366.26) to her son, five-year-old A.M.^[1] Mother contends the Kern County Superior
Court (court) erred by rejecting her argument that termination would be
detrimental to A.M. based on their parent/child relationship (§ 366.26, subd.
(c)(1)(B)(i)). On review, we disagree
and affirm.

PROCEDURAL AND FACTUAL HISTORY

Mother had a lengthy history of drug use and domestic violence with A.M.'s father,
A.M., Sr. (father), resulting in mother's inability to provide reliable and
regular care to A.M.

First Dependency

In early
2006, one-year-old A.M. was taken into protective custody when mother and
father were arrested for domestic violence and being under the influence of
illegal controlled substances. The court
terminated mother's reunification services due to her failure to complete court
ordered counseling. Father complied with
maintenance services and continued to test negative for illegal substances. In mid-2007, father was awarded sole legal
and physical custody, and the court terminated dependency of A.M.

Second Dependency

Mother lived on and off with father
while A.M. was in father's custody. She
would leave the home for a few days at a time whenever she and father had
problems.

In April 2009, A.M. was admitted to
the hospital due to severe injuries he suffered after being attacked by
father. On the day of the incident,
mother visited the home to find A.M. crying.
He told mother he wanted to go with her because father was scaring
him. Father angrily told mother to leave
and threatened to call the police.
Mother pushed the child back inside and left the home. Following the incident, mother stayed with
A.M. in the hospital until he was released.

Under these
tragic circumstances, the Kern County
Department of Human Services (department) initiated dependency proceedings
and placed A.M. in the custody of a foster parent. The court exercised its dependency
jurisdiction over A.M. under section 300, subdivisions (b), (e) and (i). Father waived reunification services. Mother received supervised visits for one
hour, two times per week.

Denial of
Reunification Services

In September 2009, the court
adjudged A.M. a dependent child and removed him from parental custody. The court also denied reunification services
to the mother due to her extensive, abusive, and chronic use of drugs under
section 361.5, subdivision (b)(13).
Mother failed to complete any court ordered substance abuse counseling
program. Considering mother's long
history of drug use, she was not in a position to provide a stable environment
for A.M. Mother had a history of coming
in and out of the child's life thereby undermining the child's sense of
stability. Mother lived a transient
lifestyle for most of her life, and she had not assisted in helping the child
achieve the most important milestones in his life.

During the dispositional hearing,
the court also considered evidence regarding mother's relationship with
A.M. A.M. was placed into the home of
his paternal aunt and uncle (aunt and uncle).
Uncle reported A.M. was sometimes very resistant to visit mother, and he
had to talk to A.M. about going to one of the visits. During supervised visits with mother, a
department social worker observed that A.M. played with toys and ate snacks
mother brought for him. Mother asked
A.M. questions about school and attempted to have conversations with him. A.M. was generally unresponsive by giving
mother short answers or saying â€