Court Opinion

ID: 9367733
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-02-01 19:02:56.972591+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:16:02.971739
License: Public Domain

Filed 2/1/23 In re K.S. CA2/5
  NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

                   SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

                                DIVISION FIVE

In re K.S., A Person Coming Under               B317847
the Juvenile Court Law.
___________________________________             (Los Angeles County
LOS ANGELES COUNTY                              Super. Ct. No.
DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN                          21CCJP05179)
AND FAMILY SERVICES,

        Plaintiff and Respondent,

        v.

B.S.,

        Defendant and Appellant.

     APPEAL from orders of the Superior Court of Los Angeles
County, Terry Truong, Judge Pro Tempore. Dismissed.
     Elizabeth C. Alexander, under appointment by the Court of
Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.
     Dawyn R. Harrison, Acting County Counsel, Melania
Vartanian and Sally Son, Deputy County Counsel, for Plaintiff
and Respondent.
       B.S. (Father) appeals from juvenile dependency jurisdiction
and disposition orders concerning his son, K.S. (Minor), which
were made after the juvenile court found the Indian Child
Welfare Act (ICWA) inapplicable. The jurisdiction finding was
predicated on evidence of a history of domestic violence between
Father and Y.C. (Mother), as well as on evidence of a history of
substance abuse by both parents. The juvenile court removed
Minor, who was two and a half years old at the time, from his
parents’ custody and ordered reunification services for both
parents.
       The sole issue raised in Father’s opening brief on appeal is
a claim that the juvenile court and the Los Angeles County
Department of Children and Family Services (the Department)
did not comply with their inquiry obligations under ICWA and
related California law. In a letter brief, the Department
conceded it had not undertaken an appropriate ICWA inquiry at
the time of the court’s jurisdiction and disposition orders and
agreed to a remand for further inquiry.
       Following this court’s initial review of the parties’
submissions, we invited the parties to file supplemental letter
briefs addressing the impact of our recent decision in In re Baby
Girl M. (2022) 83 Cal.App.5th 635 (Baby Girl M.) on this appeal.
The Department, in its supplemental brief, took the position that
post-judgment developments had rendered Father’s appeal
moot—as was the case in Baby Girl M. (Id. at 637-639.)
Specifically, the Department argued we cannot provide Father
with any effective relief because, while the appeal has been
pending, the juvenile court issued an order directing the
Department to interview available maternal and paternal
relatives about Minor’s possible Indian heritage and report the

                                 2
results of its inquiries.1 Father’s supplemental brief disputes
neither the Department’s understanding of the impact of our
holding in Baby Girl M. nor the conclusion that his appeal has
been rendered moot. Instead, Father expresses only concern that
dismissal of the appeal would “validate[ ] without consequence”
the Department’s initial inaction and observes that the burden of
ensuring compliance with ICWA’s inquiry obligations should not
be placed on parents and their counsel.
      The present appeal is materially indistinguishable from the
appeal in Baby Girl M. The cause is accordingly moot for the
same reasons articulated in that opinion, and we decline to
exercise our discretion to opine on the moot issue presented (see
generally In re D.P. (Jan. 19, 2023, S267429) ___ Cal.5th ___
[2023 WL 310256]).

1
      Pursuant to the Department’s unopposed request, we take
judicial notice of the juvenile court’s October 3, 2022, order to
that effect.

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                        DISPOSITION
     The appeal is dismissed.

   NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS

                   BAKER, Acting P. J.

We concur:

     MOOR, J.

     KIM, J.

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