In re R.Y.

Filed 8/22/06 In re R.Y. CA2/5

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 977.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

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION FIVE

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Margaret S. Henry, Judge. Affirmed.

Karen B. Stalter, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

Raymond G. Fortner, Jr., Los Angeles County Counsel, Larry Cory, Assistant County Counsel, Lisa Proft, Deputy County Counsel, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

I. INTRODUCTION

L.B. (the mother) appeals from a March 21, 2006, order terminating her parental rights as to R.Y. (the child). (Welf. & Inst. Code,^[1] § 366.26.) The mother contends the juvenile court should have applied the sibling relationship exception to parental rights termination with respect to R. and a sister, I. (§ 366.26, subd. (c)(1)(E).) We find there was no substantial evidence of a significant sibling bond such that ongoing contact with I. was in R.'s best interest. Accordingly, we affirm the order.

II. BACKGROUND

This single mother had 9 children by the time she was 31 years of age. At the time the parental rights termination order was entered, all of the children, with the exception of the oldest, were juvenile court dependents. There is a history of sexual abuse within the family going back several generations. There was evidence the maternal grandfather had sexually abused the mother from childhood until she was 18 years old. There was further evidence: the mother had physically abused I. and two siblings by hitting them with a belt; despite having been sexually abused by her father, the mother took the children to their maternal grandfather's home; the maternal grandfather raped and sodomized a sibling, Jonathan; the maternal grandfather also, together with two maternal uncles, gang raped Jonathan; a maternal uncle had sexually abused, including sodomized, another sibling, Erica; Jonathan had sexually abused his half-sister I., including intercourse and sodomy by force; Jonathan also sexually abused a half-brother Eric, including sodomy by force; the children, including I., engaged in extreme sexually acting out behaviors; and in July 2004, then 7-year-old I. inappropriately touched another girl at school. In July 2004, I.'s therapist noted the youngster had engaged in excessive masturbation, lying, destruction of property at home, and fighting at school. Further, there was evidence: the mother knew or should have known of the sexual abuse but failed to protect the children and stop the abuse; indeed, the mother punished the children for revealing the sexual abuse to her; the mother also exposed the children to domestic violence; and the children were â€