Court Opinion

ID: 9915178
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-01-04 19:02:24.351308+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:18:13.272051
License: Public Domain

Filed 1/4/24 In re N.B. CA4/1
                   NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS
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                 COURT OF APPEAL, FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

                                                       DIVISION ONE

                                              STATE OF CALIFORNIA

 In re N.B., a Person Coming Under
 the Juvenile Court Law.

 SAN DIEGO COUNTY HEALTH                                                 D082165
 AND HUMAN SERVICES
 AGENCY,

            Respondent,                                                  (Super. Ct. No. J519588)

            v.

 Y.J.,

            Appellant.

          APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of San Diego County,
Michael P. Pulos, Judge. Request for judicial notice denied; motion to
augment record on appeal denied. Appeal dismissed.
          Matthew Sean Harrison, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for
Appellant.
          Claudia Silva, County Counsel, Lisa M. Maldonado and Kristen M.
OJeil, Deputy County Counsel, for Respondent.
          No appearance for minor.

                                                                    1
      This appeal arises in an unusual procedural context. Y.J., a former
foster caregiver for minor N.B., appeals a juvenile court order denying her

Welfare and Institutions Code section 3881 petition to modify prior orders
issued in N.B.’s dependency case. After N.B. was removed from Y.J.’s care in
2019, she was placed with another foster caregiver, and Y.J. had no
continuing contact. Over the course of the next three years, reunification
services for, and the parental rights of, N.B.’s parents were terminated, and
a permanent plan of adoption was selected for N.B.
      Then, in October 2022, Y.J. filed a section 388 petition seeking to
modify the court’s prior orders and, in particular, sought new orders vacating
the orders terminating reunification services and parental rights and
ordering the resumption of reunification services for at least an additional six
months. The juvenile court summarily denied her petition, finding that Y.J.
had not made a prima facie showing that her requested relief was in N.B.’s
best interests.
      Ultimately, we do not address the merits of Y.J.’s appellate argument.
Because she lacks standing to appeal the order denying the section 388
petition, we dismiss her appeal.

              FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

      In July 2019, N.B. was removed from Y.J., her foster caregiver. There
is no evidence that Y.J. challenged the removal order, and thereafter she had
no further contact with N.B. N.B.’s dependency case proceeded to the
permanency planning phase.

1     All statutory references are to the Welfare and Institutions Code.
                                       2
      In the spring of 2022, apparently after learning that N.B. was available
to be adopted, Y.J. claims she tried unsuccessfully to be approved for
adoption. A few months later, in October 2022, Y.J. filed a section 388
modification petition asking that “[t]he original order(s) terminating parental
rights . . . be vacated and reunification resumed.” She also specifically
requested that the court “vacate all order(s) authorizing removal or otherwise
terminating reunification, and resuming reunification for six (6) months, at
minimum, with subsequent hearings to establish permanent reunification.”
The petition alleged Y.J. had standing based on her “parental interest”
because at the time of N.B.’s removal in 2019, Y.J. “was the sole caregiver,

adoptive parent, and de facto parent for [N.B.].”2
      On March 21, 2023, the juvenile court conducted a hearing on whether
Y.J. had made a prima facie showing on her section 388 petition such that an
evidentiary hearing would be warranted. The San Diego County Health and
Human Services Agency (Agency) opposed her petition and argued that Y.J.
lacked standing to request the relief she sought. Alternatively, the Agency
argued that even if Y.J. had made a prima facie showing of changed
circumstances or new evidence, she was unable to fairly allege that her
requested relief was in N.B.’s best interests. In particular, the Agency
represented that Y.J. had had no visits with N.B. since her removal from Y.J.
in 2019. N.B.’s counsel joined in the Agency’s argument and indicated that
N.B. had been “doing wonderfully” and was “safe and happy” in her current
caregivers’ home. N.B.’s counsel also stated that the current caregivers were
meeting N.B.’s very high needs.

2     The petition also stated, apparently in error, that Y.J. “maintained
regular visitation and contact” with N.B. such that she “would benefit from
continuing the relationship [with Y.J.], and termination of that relationship
would impose a detriment on [N.B.].”
                                       3
      Y.J.’s counsel conceded that, contrary to the petition’s allegations, Y.J.
was not, in fact, a de facto parent. He also clarified that Y.J. had never been
designated as a prospective adoptive parent, but argued she qualified as one
in 2019.
      The juvenile court concluded that Y.J. appeared to have made a prima
facie showing on the first prong of changed circumstances or new evidence,
but could not demonstrate that her requested relief would be in N.B.’s best
interests. In particular, the court noted that Y.J. was not a de facto caregiver
for N.B., nor was she a current caregiver who had been designated by the
court as a prospective adoptive parent pursuant to section 366.26, subdivision
(n). It stated that there had been no showing it would be in N.B.’s best
interests to change her current placement and resume reunification services
where Y.J. had no parental rights. The judge added: “There [are] no parental
rights that inured to [Y.J.]. There is no entitlement to custody. There is no
entitlement to visitation. There is no entitlement to reunification services.
So I think that’s the . . . base of . . . the problem.” Accordingly, the court
summarily denied Y.J.’s section 388 petition without an evidentiary hearing.

                                  DISCUSSION

                          Y.J. Lacks Standing to Appeal

      The Agency argues, and we agree, that Y.J. lacks standing to appeal

the order denying her section 388 petition.3

3      On July 20, 2023, Y.J. filed a request for judicial notice (RJN) asking
that we consider various documents related to the Agency’s decision to
remove N.B. from her care in 2019 and the subsequent investigation and
action by the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) regarding
Y.J.’s resource family approval (RFA) certificate. Because the documents
that Y.J. requests that we judicially notice were not submitted to, or
considered by, the juvenile court below, we deny the RJN. (In re Zeth S.
                                         4
      Although orders denying section 388 modification petitions are
generally appealable, “[n]ot every party has standing to appeal every
appealable order.” (In re K.C. (2011) 52 Cal.4th 231, 236 (K.C.).) “[T]o have
standing to appeal, a person generally must be both a party of record and
sufficiently ‘aggrieved’ by the judgment or order.” (Marsh v. Zephyr, Inc.
(1996) 43 Cal.App.4th 289, 295.) “Although standing to appeal is construed
liberally, . . . only a person aggrieved by a decision may appeal. [Citations.]
An aggrieved person, for this purpose, is one whose rights or interests are
injuriously affected by the decision in an immediate and substantial way, and
not as a nominal or remote consequence of the decision.” (K.C., at p. 236; cf.
Code Civ. Proc., § 902 [“Any party aggrieved may appeal”].) Also, “[a] person
does not have standing to urge errors on appeal that affect only the interests
of others. [Citation.] Accordingly, a parent is precluded from raising issues
on appeal which do not affect his or her own rights.” (In re A.K. (2017) 12
Cal.App.5th 492, 499.) In the circumstances of K.C., the Supreme Court set
forth the following rule regarding parents’ rights to appeal termination
orders, stating:

(2013) 31 Cal.4th 396, 405; Vons Companies, Inc. v. Seabest Foods, Inc. (1996)
14 Cal.4th 434, 444, fn. 3 [“[r]eviewing courts generally do not take judicial
notice of evidence not presented to the trial court”].) Y.J. does not persuade
us that we should make an exception here to the general rule that we review
a juvenile court’s order based on the record of matters which were before that
court for its consideration.
      Also, on September 12, 2023, we issued an order denying Y.J.’s motion
to augment the record on appeal with certain documents contained in the
confidential portions of the clerk’s transcript, treating her motion as a
request for a copy of the confidential portions of the clerk’s transcript.
Because we have now denied both the motion to augment and RJN, we
disregard all references and citations in Y.J.’s opening brief to those
documents.
                                        5
         “A parent’s appeal from a judgment terminating parental
         rights confers standing to appeal an order concerning the
         dependent child’s placement only if the placement order’s
         reversal advances the parent’s argument against
         terminating parental rights. This rule does not support
         [appellant] father’s claim of standing to appeal because he
         did not contest the termination of his parental rights in the
         juvenile court. By thus acquiescing in the termination of
         his rights, he relinquished the only interest in [his child]
         that could render him aggrieved by the juvenile court’s
         order declining to place the child with grandparents.”
         (K.C., supra, 52 Cal.4th at p. 238.)

      In In re Joseph G. (2000) 83 Cal.App.4th 712 (Joseph G.), the court
concluded that an alleged biological father who was not a party of record did
not have standing to appeal an order terminating parental rights. (Id. at
pp. 713, 716.) The court stated, “[O]nly parties of record may appeal.
[Citation.] A party of record is a person named as a party to the proceedings
or one who takes appropriate steps to become a party of record in the
proceedings. [Citation.] A person does not become a party of record merely
because his or her name and interest appear in documents filed with the
court or are referenced in the judgment.” (Id. at pp. 716–717.)
      Although not directly on point, cases involving parents and current
foster caregivers illustrate the limited scope of appellate standing in the
context of juvenile dependency cases. Thus, in In re P.L. (2005) 134
Cal.App.4th 1357 (P.L.), the court concluded that a foster mother did not
have standing to appeal an order removing the child from her home and
placing the child in a prospective adoptive home. (Id. at p. 1359.) Although
she qualified as a de facto parent, that status did not confer on her the rights
of a parent or legal guardian. (Id. at p. 1361.) P.L. concluded that the foster
mother “ha[d] no legal standing to complain of the decision to place the child
with the new prospective couple since she has no right to custody or

                                       6
continued placement as a mere de facto parent.” (Id. at pp. 1361–1362.)
Accordingly, the court dismissed her appeal. (Id. at p. 1361.) Similarly in
In re Cody R. (2019) 30 Cal.App.5th 381 (Cody R.), this court dismissed an
appeal of order terminating a mother’s parental rights to her child and
placing him with his current caregivers rather than a relative. We held that
the mother did not have standing to assert the potential rights of relatives
because she was not entitled to reunification services and had not challenged
on appeal the order terminating her parental rights. (Id. at pp. 389–390; see
also In re Jayden M. (2014) 228 Cal.App.4th 1452, 1459 (Jayden M.) [after
termination of parental rights, parent has no standing to challenge relative
placement procedures]; In re Devin M. (1997) 58 Cal.App.4th 1538, 1541
[“[a] parent cannot raise issues on appeal which do not affect his or her own
rights”].) In In re J.Y. (2018) 30 Cal.App.5th 712 (J.Y.), the court
summarized, “[A] parent generally does not have standing to raise placement
issues on appeal where the parent’s reunification services have been
terminated. This is because decisions concerning placement of the child do
not affect the parent’s interest in reunification when the parent is no longer
able to reunify with the child.” (Id. at p. 717.)
      Based on our review of the record, we conclude that Y.J. is not an
aggrieved party with standing to appeal the order denying her section 388
petition. This is because Y.J.’s rights or interests were not injuriously
affected by the order in an immediate and substantial way. (K.C., supra,
52 Cal.4th at p. 236.) As discussed above, Y.J.’s section 388 petition
requested that the juvenile court vacate its order terminating parental rights,
vacate its orders removing N.B. and terminating reunification services, and
order that reunification services be resumed for at least six months. But
none of the orders that she sought (unsuccessfully) to have vacated

                                         7
injuriously affected her rights or interests in an immediate and substantial
way. (K.C., at p. 236.) As the Agency asserts, Y.J. does not show that at the
time she filed her section 388 petition in October 2022 or when the court
denied her petition in March 2023, she had any compelling interest in N.B.’s
companionship, care, custody, or management or, in particular, was entitled
to reunification services. (K.C., at p. 236; cf. In re Nolan W. (2009) 45 Cal.4th
1217, 1228 [“[r]eunification services are typically understood as a benefit
provided to parents”].) Furthermore, after she was removed from Y.J.’s foster
care in 2019, N.B. was placed with another foster family and her dependency
case proceeded thereafter with the termination of reunification services for
her parents, the termination of parental rights, and the selection of a
permanent plan of adoption for N.B. Y.J. was not a party of record to any of
those subsequent dependency proceedings, nor were her rights or interests
injuriously affected in an immediate and substantial way by any of those
subsequent orders. (Joseph G., supra, 83 Cal.App.4th at pp. 716–717; K.C.,
at p. 236.)
      Because N.B. had been removed from Y.J.’s foster care in 2019, Y.J.
was not a de facto parent when the court issued its order denying her section
388 petition in March 2023. This point was conceded by her counsel at the
hearing on her petition. In general, only a current—and not a former—foster
caregiver can qualify as a de facto parent.
      In re Hirenia C. (1993) 18 Cal.App.4th 504, cited by Y.J., is factually
and procedurally inapposite. In that case, the court concluded that the
appellant, who had cared for the child for over three years, was a de facto
parent and had standing to file a section 388 petition to challenge a previous
order after her former partner terminated appellant’s visits, and thus her
relationship, with the child. (Hirenia C., at pp. 514–515.) Here, when she

                                        8
filed her October 2022 petition, Y.J. had had no visits or other contact with
N.B. since her July 2019 removal. Therefore, even assuming that Y.J. may
have been a de facto parent (or, alternatively, a “person having an interest
in” N.B.) at the time of N.B.’s removal in July 2019, she lost any such interest
when she failed to timely file a writ petition challenging that removal in the
juvenile court. (See § 366.26, subd. (n)(5) [order removing child from foster
care placement is not appealable and must be challenged by writ petition].)
In March 2023 when the court denied her section 388 petition, Y.J. lacked
any existing or recent parental or other relationship with N.B. and therefore
did not qualify as a de facto parent with standing to appeal the order denying
her petition. Rather, she was “just another member of the ‘general public.’ ”
(Hirenia C., at p. 515.)
      Likewise, Y.J. had not been designated as a prospective adoptive
parent at the time she filed her petition or when the court issued its order.
At the hearing on her petition, Y.J.’s counsel conceded that fact, but instead
argued that she qualified to be designated as one in 2019. However,
prospective adoptive parents may be designated by a juvenile court only after
parental rights have been terminated and a permanent plan of adoption has
been selected by the court. (§ 366.26, subd. (n)(1) [at section 366.26 hearing,
court “may designate a current caretaker as a prospective adoptive parent if
the child has lived with the caretaker for at least six months”].) Because no
section 366.26 hearing had been held or permanent plan selected for N.B. in
July 2019 when she was removed from Y.J.’s care, Y.J. could not have been
designated as a prospective adoptive parent even if she otherwise might have
qualified to be one. As the Agency’s counsel correctly argued at the hearing,
“The former caregiver [i.e., Y.J.] did not meet prospective adoptive status
because that status can only apply after a [section 366.26] hearing has been

                                       9
held and parents’ rights are terminated. . . . [The] parents’ rights were
terminated at the contested [section 366.26] hearing on September 30th,
2020.”
      To the extent Y.J. argues that she qualified to be a prospective adoptive
parent at the time of her October 2022 petition or the March 2023 order, that
status is an insufficient interest to show standing to appeal the order denying
her section 388 petition. Only a prospective adoptive parent designated by
the court, and not a person who merely qualifies to be so designated, has
standing to appeal an order denying a section 388 petition. Y.J. does not cite
any authority suggesting otherwise.
      Finally, Y.J. was not N.B.’s current caregiver at the time of her petition
or when the court issued its order. She does not, nor could she reasonably,
argue otherwise. At most, she indicates that in 2019 she was N.B.’s sole
caregiver, which does not demonstrate she had standing to appeal the March
2023 order denying her petition. The record clearly shows that at that later
time, Y.J. was a former foster caregiver who had not cared for, or even
visited, N.B. for more than three years and did not have any parental or
other recognizable interest in N.B., whether as a current caregiver,
prospective adoptive parent, de facto parent, or otherwise. Accordingly, Y.J.’s
rights or interests were not injuriously affected by the March 2023 order in
an immediate and substantial way, but, at most, only as a nominal or remote
consequence of the order. (K.C., supra, 52 Cal.4th at p. 236.)
      In sum, Y.J. has no standing to appeal the March 2023 order denying
her section 388 petition. Her conclusory assertions that she has standing as
a former caregiver, de facto parent, and prospective adoptive parent are
insufficient to show her interests or rights were injured by the March 2023

                                      10
order in any immediate and substantial way 4 (K.C., supra, 52 Cal.4th at
p. 236.) Accordingly, we must dismiss her appeal.

                                 DISPOSITION

      The appeal is dismissed.

                                                            DATO, Acting P. J.

WE CONCUR:

DO, J.

BUCHANAN, J.

4      In comparison, it is inconceivable in the circumstances of this case that
a former foster caregiver who had not cared for or visited a child in over three
years would have a greater claim of standing than a parent who would have
no standing to appeal orders terminating reunification services, terminating
parental rights, or selecting a permanent plan of adoption for the child. (Cf.
K.C., supra, 52 Cal.4th at p. 238; Joseph G., supra, 83 Cal.App.4th at pp. 713,
716; P.L., supra, 134 Cal.App.4th at pp. 1361–1362; Cody R., supra, 30
Cal.App.5th at pp. 389–390; Jayden M., supra, 228 Cal.App.4th at p. 1459;
J.Y., supra, 30 Cal.App.5th at p. 717.)
                                      11