IN THE

ARIZONA COURT OF APPEALS

DIVISION ONE

IN RE DEPENDENCY AS TO G.K., L.K., C.K. and C.K. 

No. 1 CA-JV 23-0135 

Appeal from the Superior Court in Maricopa County

No. JD40644, JS21329

The Honorable Michael J. Herrod, Judge

APPEAL DISMISSED

APPEARANCES

Allegra G., Phoenix

Appellant

H. Clark Jones, LLC, Mesa

By H. Clark Jones

Advisory Counsel for Appellant Allegra G.

Arizona Attorney General’s Office, Tucson

By Dawn R. Williams

Counsel for Appellee Department of Child Safety

FILED 08-27-2024
IN RE DEPENDENCY AS TO G.K., et al.

Opinion of the Court

2

OPINION

Judge Michael J. Brown delivered the opinion of the Court, in which 

Presiding Judge Samuel A. Thumma and Judge Jennifer B. Campbell joined.

B R O W N, Judge:

¶1 Allegra G. (“Mother”) appeals from a June 2023 juvenile court 

order reaffirming that her four minor children are dependent. The court 

reaffirmed the children’s dependency in a December 2023 order. Because 

that order necessarily replaces the June 2023 order, we dismiss Mother’s 

appeal as moot. 

BACKGROUND

¶2 In March 2021, one of Mother’s six biological children died

under mysterious circumstances at the age of 14. After an investigation

found that the children had never received any professional medical care, 

dental care, or formal schooling, the Department of Child Safety (“DCS”) 

petitioned for dependency, alleging Mother was unable to provide proper 

or effective parental care and control for the children due to abuse, neglect, 

and mental health concerns. 

¶3 In June 2021, the juvenile court found the surviving children 

dependent as to Mother and granted DCS legal custody. The court also 

found the children were dependent as to Father, but he is no longer a party 

to this appeal. This court affirmed that decision. Allegra G. v. Dep’t of Child 

Safety, 1 CA-JV 21-0221, 2021 WL 5830199 (Ariz. App. Dec. 9, 2021) (mem. 

decision).

¶4 At a July 2021 disposition hearing, the juvenile court adopted 

a severance and adoption case plan and ordered DCS to expedite placing 

the children with an out-of-state relative. DCS then placed the children in 

the relative’s physical custody, while DCS retained legal custody. This 

court affirmed that disposition order and an order denying Mother’s 

request to place the children with a different relative. Allegra G. v. Dep’t of 

Child Safety, 1 CA-JV 21-0260, 2022 WL 1043741 (Ariz. App. Apr. 7, 2022) 

(mem. decision); Allegra G. v. Dep’t of Child Safety, 1 CA-CV 21-0445, 2022 

WL 714422 (Ariz. App. Mar. 10, 2022) (mem. decision).
IN RE DEPENDENCY AS TO G.K., et al.

Opinion of the Court

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¶5 In August 2021, DCS moved to terminate Mother’s parental 

rights based on neglect. At a December 2021 hearing, the juvenile court 

affirmed the severance and adoption case plan and found the children 

continued to be dependent. It also reaffirmed the children’s dependency at 

a July 2022 hearing, and this court affirmed those orders. Allegra G. 

& Kasongo T. v. Dep’t of Child Safety, 1 CA-JV 22-0005, 2023 WL 2658031 

(Ariz. App. Mar. 28, 2023) (mem. decision). 

¶6 At a January 2023 hearing, the juvenile court again reaffirmed 

the children’s dependency, but the oldest child was dismissed from the 

proceedings several weeks later when he turned 18 years old. Because the 

relative could no longer care for the four youngest children, DCS relocated 

them to Arizona in June 2023. At a hearing later in June, the court affirmed 

the children’s dependency. 

¶7 Mother timely appealed and initially sought to challenge five

rulings made by the juvenile court. This court issued an order limiting 

Mother’s appeal to the June 2023 dependency reaffirmation because the 

other rulings are non-appealable orders related to changing physical 

custody, reasonable efforts to finalize the case plan, substitution of counsel,

and denial of a continuance. We have jurisdiction of Mother’s appeal of the 

dependency reaffirmation under A.R.S. § 8-235(A). After Mother’s 

appellate counsel certified that he had diligently searched the record and 

found no non-frivolous issues to raise on appeal, Mother filed a pro se

opening brief. See Ariz. R.P. Juv. Ct. 607(e)(1)(B).

DISCUSSION

¶8 Mother argues the juvenile court erred when it reaffirmed the 

children’s dependency in June 2023 because “no testimony was taken and 

no evidence was admitted.” In response, DCS contends that Mother’s 

appeal is moot based on the court’s dependency finding included in a

December 2023 minute entry, which DCS attached to its answering brief

without objection. 

¶9 After a court determines that a child is dependent, it must 

hold review hearings at least once every six months to review the parties’ 

progress in achieving case plan goals and to discern whether the child 

continues to be dependent. A.R.S. § 8-847(A); Ariz. R.P. Juv. Ct. 341(a). A 

child is dependent if the child is “[i]n need of proper and effective parental 

care and control” and “has no parent or guardian willing to exercise or 

capable of exercising such care and control.” A.R.S. § 8-201(15)(a)(i). DCS 

must submit a report in advance of the review hearing, and “the court may 
IN RE DEPENDENCY AS TO G.K., et al.

Opinion of the Court

4

consider the oral or written reports of the parties, documents entered into 

evidence at prior proceedings, documents agreed upon by the parties, and 

any other reports pursuant to Rule 104.” Ariz. R.P. Juv. Ct. 341(c), (e)(1); see 

also Dep’t of Child Safety v. Stocking-Tate, 247 Ariz. 108, 114, ¶ 14 (App. 2019)

(noting that orders entered after “review hearings may be informed by 

additional reports, evidence, and testimony”). Any party who desires an 

evidentiary hearing on any issue is required to file a motion requesting such

a hearing. Ariz. R.P. Juv. Ct. 341(d). Mother made no such motion here.

¶10 The juvenile court’s review process is necessarily cumulative

because the court “does not engage in a perpetual review of the same 

evidence.” Stocking-Tate, 247 Ariz. at 114, ¶ 14. Instead, “each new order 

necessarily replaces the last as the court gains information and 

perspective.” Id.; see also Bennigno R. v. Ariz. Dep’t of Econ. Sec., 233 Ariz. 

345, 349, ¶ 16 (App. 2013) (recognizing that child welfare considerations

“are rarely, if ever, static” and that “it is more likely that the child’s 

environment is constantly evolving”) (citation omitted). Thus, in general, 

appellate arguments challenging a juvenile court’s order become moot 

when the court makes “new findings, based on the circumstances as they 

exist today.” Brionna J. v. Dep’t of Child Safety, 247 Ariz. 346, 351, ¶ 17 (App. 

2019).

¶11 Under Arizona Rule of Evidence 201, a court may take judicial 

notice of its own records, and this court may “take judicial notice of 

anything of which the trial court could take notice.” In re Sabino R., 198 

Ariz. 424, 425, ¶ 4 (App. 2000). Here, Mother does not dispute that the 

December 2023 minute entry provided by DCS, of which we take judicial 

notice, states that the juvenile court “read and considered the DCS child 

safety specialist’s report dated [November 9, 2023]” and found that “the 

children continue to be dependent.” See Ariz. R. Evid. 201(c)(2) (stating that 

a court “must take judicial notice if a party requests it and the court is 

supplied with the necessary information”); (d) (“The court may take judicial 

notice at any stage of the proceeding.”). Because the juvenile court 

considered a more recent DCS child safety specialist’s report in reaching its 

conclusion in the December 2023 minute entry, that ruling necessarily 

replaces the prior dependency order. See Stocking-Tate, 247 Ariz. at 114, 

¶ 14. 

¶12 As a matter of judicial restraint, “we typically decline to 

consider moot or abstract questions.” Kondaur Cap. Corp. v. Pinal Cnty., 235 

Ariz. 189, 193, ¶ 8 (App. 2014). Generally, “when our action as a reviewing 

court will have no effect on the parties,” we dismiss the appeal as moot. 

Cardoso v. Soldo, 230 Ariz. 614, 617, ¶ 5 (App. 2012). Now that the December 
IN RE DEPENDENCY AS TO G.K., et al.

Opinion of the Court

5

2023 order controls, Mother’s challenge to the June 2023 order is moot 

because it has no effect on the parties, including Mother. On occasion, in 

the exercise of our discretion we consider appeals that have become moot 

when they “present an issue of great public importance or one capable of 

repetition yet evading review.” Id. But neither factor is presented here.

CONCLUSION

¶13 Mother’s appeal is dismissed as moot.