In re J.L.
Filed 7/17/06 In re J.L. CA5
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS
California Rules of Court, rule 977(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 977(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 977.
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
FIFTH APPELLATE DISTRICT
| In re J.L., a Person Coming Under the Juvenile Court Law. | |
| KERN COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. JENNIFER L., Defendant and Appellant. | F049326
(Super. Ct. No. JD105487)
O P I N I O N |
THE COURT*
APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Kern County. Robert Anspach, Judge.
Kathleen Murphy Mallinger, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.
B.C. Barmann, Sr., County Counsel, and Susan M. Gill, Deputy County Counsel, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
-ooOoo-
Jennifer L. appeals from an order terminating her parental rights (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 366.26) to her son J.L. [1] She contends the court erred by denying her petition to reopen reunification services. On review, we disagree and will affirm.
PROCEDURAL AND FACTUAL HISTORY
Respondent Kern County Department of Human Services (the department) detained J.L. the day after his birth in November 2004. Nine months earlier, in February 2004, the department initiated dependency proceedings as to the infant's brother and sister. The brother had scratches of various sizes and degree over his body as well as a healed fracture of his right clavicle. His serious injuries were inconsistent with the explanations offered by appellant and the children's father.[2] Later, in the spring of 2004 and while pregnant with J., appellant admitted using methamphetamine and tested positive for the drug. It was based on these events that the department detained J. and initiated the underlying dependency proceedings on his behalf (§ 300, subd. (a)(serious physical harm), (b)(neglect) & (j)(abuse of sibling)).
In December 2004, the Kern County Superior Court adjudged J. a dependent child of the court and removed him from parental custody. Although the court denied the father reunification services, it extended six months of services for appellant based on her early progress towards reunification and J.'s young age (§ 361.5, subd. (a)(2)). Court-ordered services included substance abuse counseling and random drug tests as well as counseling for failure to protect from physical abuse. It was also impressed upon appellant that contact on her part with J.'s father would prevent reunification.
Despite appellant's early efforts at reunification, appellant relapsed and tested positive for amphetamine and methamphetamine in both March and April 2005. During the same period, she apparently was seeing J.'s father and was living with the father's brother. Although she completed her substance abuse counseling in late April, her occasional drug use raised the question of whether her participation was successful. Encouraged to re-enroll in such counseling, appellant failed to do so. By June 2005, appellant did complete the failure-to-protect counseling and was visiting weekly with J.
The court conducted a status review hearing in late June 2005. At that hearing, appellant testified that she had recently moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and was living in her brother's home. She moved â€
