Court Opinion

ID: 9528645
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:42:46.125332+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:27:10.708482
License: Public Domain

REYNOSO, J.
I respectfully dissent.
The majority subscribes to an unfortunate opinion. Unfortunate, for it teaches recalcitrant parties that by hiding a child and not permitting parental *798contact, they may succeed in taking all rights from that parent. And unfortunate, for the majority substitutes its judgment for that of the trial court judge who heard the witnesses and made the always difficult decision. Unfortunate finally, because the standards the Legislature has established (Civ. Code, § 4600) and our own guidelines (In re Baby Girl M. (1984) 37 Cal.3d 65 [207 Cal.Rptr. 309, 688 P.2d 918]) have been weakened, bringing uncertainty to the law.
1. Substantial Evidence Supports the Trial Court Decision
As the majority notes, the only issue presented by this case is whether substantial evidence supports the trial court’s implied finding that an award of custody to Michael would not be detrimental to Eric. (Civ. Code, § 4600, subd. (c).) The law is well settled with respect to the standards to be applied by an appellate court in determining whether there is substantial evidence to support a trial court ruling. As I have indicated, the majority has ignored this precedent and substituted its judgment for that of the trial court.
In determining whether a trial court ruling is supported by substantial evidence, the reviewing court “must consider the evidence in the light most favorable to the prevailing party, giving him the benefit of every reasonable inference, and resolving conflicts in support of the judgment.” (6 Witkin, Cal. Procedure (2d ed.) § 245, p. 4236; see cases cited therein.) The rule is the same even where the weight of the evidence goes against the prevailing party. Substantial evidence review “does not permit weighing of the evidence or reversal of a judgment in accordance with the preponderance thereof. A judgment against the weight of the evidence will be affirmed, provided the record is free from prejudicial error, if there is substantial evidence in support of it.” (Id., § 248, p. 4240.)
“The testimony of a single witness, even the party himself, may be sufficient” to constitute substantial evidence. (Id., § 248, p. 4240.) The rationale for this rule is that the trial court, as the trier of facts, is in the best position to assess the credibility of the witnesses. “ ‘There are many factors aiding in a reasonable conclusion which are presented to the trier of facts in the first instance and not available to one going over the cold record. There is what might be called the “feel” of the case. This embraces a consideration of the witnesses, the manner in which they testify and their general attitude in the courtroom.’ (Cummings v. Kendall (1940) 41 Cal.App.2d 549, 555.)” (Id., § 246, p. 4239.)
The majority concludes that “[t]he record . . . contains uncontroverted evidence which indicates that Michael lacked the maturity needed to care for a child and to award custody of Eric to Michael, after he has established *799a bond with the Whites, would be detrimental.” (Maj. opn. at p. 793, ante.) In my view, the evidence relevant to this issue is quite controverted. The majority is very selective in its use of the record. The following substantial evidence was presented to support the trial court’s ruling.
The record indicates that Michael exhibited responsibility for the pregnancy from the outset. At his suggestion, Michael and Jamie together sought pregnancy testing and counseling from a community social service agency. Moreover, Michael took the responsibility for informing Jamie’s parents of the pregnancy, to ensure that Jamie and the baby received proper medical attention.
While Michael’s contact with Jamie diminished thereafter, this was clearly due to the fact that school authorities had “ordered” Michael not to have any contact with Jamie, at the risk of “getting] into very deep trouble.” Jamie’s mother testified that this directive was made at her and her husband’s “instruction.” Additionally, Jamie was sent to live with her aunt on January 1, 1983, and thereafter came home only every other weekend.
Michael testified that he wanted to keep his baby from the moment he knew Jamie was pregnant, and had expressed to Jamie his desire to be present at the baby’s birth. Michael later made efforts to identify the hospital in which Jamie would deliver. Although, as the majority notes, the evidence is in dispute regarding whether Michael and his family offered to pay for the delivery, Jamie’s mother testified that her family incurred no costs associated with Eric’s birth as it was covered under their existing Kaiser insurance.
Prior to Eric’s birth, Michael sought individual counseling. Michael first spoke with a priest, from whom he sought spiritual guidance and help in obtaining custody of his child. He then turned to a high school counselor, who referred Michael to the county in order to pursue obtaining custody of his child. Michael and his mother thereafter talked with a county official, who suggested they see a lawyer. As a result of consulting with a lawyer, Michael’s mother obtained temporary guardianship of Eric shortly after his birth.
Both before and after Eric’s birth, Michael and his mother repeatedly indicated to Jamie and her mother that they wanted to raise the child. Since Eric’s birth, Michael and his mother have been undaunted in their efforts to acquire custody of Eric, notwithstanding the fact that they have been denied contact with and information about Eric.
The record indicates that Michael can provide a stable and loving home for his child, full of warmth and nurturance. Michael and his mother both *800described their extended family as “close” or “tight” knit. His maternal grandmother and aunts live close by and the extended family gets together frequently for family occasions and holidays. The individual selected by Michael and his mother to provide regular child care, Rose Chacon, is a family friend, a middle-aged woman who has raised five children, has five grandchildren, and lives three and a half miles from Michael’s home, where she intends to care for Eric. Michael’s home is large, with three bedrooms, two-and-a-half bathrooms, and large kitchen, dining room and living room. Michael himself is prepared to assume many of the responsibilities associated with Eric’s care. In addition to taking a course in child development, Michael has had practical experience caring for his sister’s two young children, including bottle feeding and diaper changing. Michael has also routinely assumed responsibilities for housework at his home.
At the time of the hearing, Michael was doing well academically. Michael himself—not at the behest of the Serrano High School authorities—had decided to enroll in an independent high school program. Michael was not only pursuing this program, which he intended to complete in June, but was taking some classes at a community college, including the child development course. It was Michael’s intention to attend community college on a full-time basis following his graduation from high school.
In my view, this evidence amply supports the trial court’s ruling that it would not be detrimental to award custody of Eric to Michael.
2. Statutory and Decisional Standards on Detriment Support the Trial Court Decision
In considering the effect of Eric’s removal from the White home in its determination whether it would be detrimental to place Eric with Michael, the majority has departed from the precedent of this court’s recent decision in In re Baby Girl M., supra, 37 Cal.3d 65. The majority erroneously considered the effect of severing the emotional bonds Eric has established with the Whites. While we recognized in Baby Girl M. that a child may develop a strong relationship with prospective adoptive parents pending resolution of the natural father’s claims (37 Cal.3d at p. 76, fn. 12), such circumstances are properly considered as bearing on the best interests of the child, not the fitness of the natural father (id., at pp. 75-76). Moreover, under Baby Girl M., the trial court is precluded from applying the best interests of the child standard without first determining whether granting custody to the natural father would be detrimental to the child. (Id., at p. 75.) “ ‘[T]he [natural] father’s opportunity to establish a protected relationship [with his child] must prevail in the absence of his unfitness.’” (Ibid., quoting Buchanan, The Constitutional Rights of Unwed Fathers Be*801fore and After Lehr v. Robertson (1984) 45 Ohio St. L.J. 313, 373.) As we noted in Baby Girl M., this determination cannot be made by comparing the adoptive family and the natural father. (37 Cal.3d at p. 76.) Thus, the appropriate inquiry is whether awarding custody of a child to his natural father would be detrimental, in and of itself, without considering whether the child’s removal from prospective adoptive parents would independently be detrimental.
Accordingly, the majority’s.reliance on the testimony of child psychiatrist Dr. Gislason is inappropriate to conclude that awarding custody of Eric to Michael would be detrimental. Dr. Gislason interviewed only the Whites. He did not interview Michael and admitted that he had “no direct information” on Michael. Dr. Gislason’s “indirect information” about Michael came from the attorneys for Jamie and the Whites. Nonetheless, Dr. Gislason repeatedly voiced his opinion that it would be both detrimental to, and against the best interests of, Eric to be removed from the White home and placed with Michael. These opinions were clearly based on Dr. Gislason’s comparison of the two placements, without an independent inquiry into Michael’s fitness as a father.
Moreover, at the time of the hearing, when Eric was seven months old and had been with the Whites for four months, Dr. Gislason estimated that Eric would experience two to three months of “reactive attachment disorder” if his placement was changed, and would not necessarily experience any long-term effects. Dr. Gislason conceded that it would be unusual if Eric had not formed such an attachment to the Whites. Significantly, when asked by the trial judge to compare the detriment to a child of being placed with a natural parent after having been with prospective adoptive parents, with the detriment associated with being permanently deprived of a relationship with a natural parent, Dr. Gislason responded that “in the long term, as the child gets to be, you know, a young teenager or adult, that makes a difference, and it would weigh, then in favor of the biological parent.”
By relying on the emotional bonds Eric has formed with the Whites in determining whether awarding custody of Eric to Michael would be detrimental, the majority, in effect, penalizes Michael for a lengthy judicial process over which he has had no control. This analysis is not only contrary to Baby Girl M., but is fundamentally unfair to natural parents who, through no fault of their own, have been unsuccessful in obtaining custody of their children.
*802Since substantial evidence supports the trial court’s implicit finding that it would not be detrimental to award custody of Eric to Michael, I would affirm the trial court’s order awarding Michael temporary custody of Eric.
Bird, C. J., concurred.