K.Y. v. Superior Court CA5
A. Detention and Removal
Two-month-old B.Y. came to the attention of the Fresno County Department of Social Services (department) in February 2021 after he was admitted to the hospital for failure to thrive because of insufficient feeding. The hospital staff attributed the baby’s low weight to mother who was inattentive to his needs. The staff encouraged her to participate in caring for the baby but she let him lie in the crib excessively and had to be prompted to feed and change him. She told the nurses it was their job, not hers, to feed the baby. The nurses also had difficulty getting mother to wake up while in the hospital and noticed that she talked to herself. They suspected she had postpartum depression. Mother also suspected she had postpartum depression and was seeing a therapist.
The department offered mother voluntary family maintenance services but she declined. Consequently, the department took the baby into protective custody and placed him in foster care.
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