In re M.L. CA4/2 ( 2021 )

Filed 10/5/21 In re M.L. CA4/2
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS
California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for
publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication
or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT
DIVISION TWO
In re M.L. et al., Persons Coming Under
the Juvenile Court Law.
SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES, E075641/E075959
Plaintiff and Respondent, (Super.Ct.Nos. J280947 &
J280948)
v.
OPINION
N.L. et al.,
Defendants and Appellants.
APPEAL from the Superior Court of San Bernardino County. Erin K. Alexander,
Judge. Affirmed.
William D. Caldwell, under appointment by the Court of Appeal for Defendant
and Appellant, B.C.
Law Offices of Arthur J. LaCilento and Arthur J. LaCilento for Defendant and
Appellant, N.L.
1
Michelle D. Blakemore, County Counsel and Dawn M. Martin, Deputy County
Counsel for Plaintiff and Respondent.
When she was two months old, M.L. suffered several rib fractures while in the
care of her parents, B.L (mother) and N.L. (father). At the jurisdiction and disposition
hearings, the juvenile court declared M.L. and her sister dependents, removed them from
their parents’ custody, denied both parents reunification services, and set a permanency
planning hearing. In a prior writ opinion, we rejected the parents’ challenges to these
orders.
In this appeal, the parents challenge the juvenile court’s denial of their Welfare
and Institutions Code section 388 petitions seeking reunification services and the court’s
decision to terminate their parental rights. They argue they established both a prima facie
case for holding an evidentiary hearing on their petitions and that the parental benefit
exception to terminating parental rights applies to them. We affirm.
I
FACTS
A. Jurisdiction and Disposition
Mother and father are a young couple who were in their early twenties when their
two-month-old daughter, M.L., suffered the injuries that brought her to the attention of
the San Bernardino County Children and Family Services (the department). The juvenile
court took jurisdiction over M.L. and her two-year-old sister, Me.L., on October 2, 2019,
finding they were dependent children as described by Welfare and Institutions Code
2
section 300, subdivision (a) (serious physical harm), subdivision (b) (failure to protect),
and subdivision (e) (severe physical abuse of child under five). (Unlabeled statutory
1
citations refer to the Welf. & Inst. Code.)
The evidence before the court at the time of the hearing was that M.L.’s injuries
were discovered when mother took her to urgent care for a bump on her ear that she
thought was a bug bite. The doctor who examined M.L. concluded the bump was a
hematoma (a pooling of blood underneath the skin) and found additional injuries.
Ultimately, several specialists at Loma Linda University Medical Center examined the
infant, and the consensus was that, in addition to the hematoma, she had suffered several
rib fractures in both sides of her ribcage, fractures in both wrists (in the distal ulnas), and
fractures in both ankles (in the distal tibias). The doctors also agreed these injuries were
inflicted nonaccidentally and the rib fractures were at two different stages of healing.
They concluded the hematoma was caused by friction or shearing, the rib fractures by
squeezing or crushing, and the wrist and ankle fractures by violent shaking or twisting of
the limbs.
The parents said they didn’t know how M.L. had sustained the injuries. Father
worked as a mechanic and mother was the primary caretaker, though sometimes the
maternal grandmother and paternal grandparents would also help care for the girls. When
the hospital informed mother of the rib fractures, she accused them of lying. Then she
1The juvenile court also found that the older sister was a dependent child as
described by section 300, subdivision (j) (abuse of sibling).
3
said M.L.’s sister could have been the one who hurt her because she was very strong for a
two year old.
Over time mother provided other possible explanations for the injuries. She and
the maternal grandmother suspected hospital staff had fractured M.L.’s ribs when she was
being treated for jaundice a week after she was born, and they suspected outpatient staff
had fractured M.L.’s ankle when they were treating her for a respiratory illness. Mother
told the social worker that she remembered M.L. had fallen out of her swing in the past,
too, but couldn’t recall exactly when. In a later interview, father said M.L.’s sister had
pulled her out of the swing, and when the social worker mentioned that mother had said
M.L. had fallen out, mother accused the social worker of switching the story. The doctors
at Loma Linda who examined M.L. agreed the injuries were not caused by medical
treatment or by a two-year-old child.
At the jurisdiction hearing, the parents presented the testimony of a pediatric
orthopedic surgeon who, having reviewed M.L.’s x-rays, concluded that a two-year-old
child was capable of exerting the approximately 60 newtons of force necessary to cause
the rib fractures. He also believed the wrist and ankle x-rays showed unusual
morphology, not fractures. However, he did believe the rib fractures were the result of
injury and not a genetic disorder like osteogenesis imperfecta. He also agreed that anyone
who was caring for M.L. within the first five days of her rib fractures would realize she
was hurt because her ribs would be very tender and she would exhibit discomfort when
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touched. Additionally, father’s counsel attempted to submit a polygraph test father had
taken regarding M.L.’s injuries, but the court ruled it was inadmissible.
The court found the Loma Linda doctors’ opinions more persuasive than the
parents’ expert’s. However, with regard to section 300, subdivision (e) (severe physical
abuse of child under five), which requires clear and convincing evidence rather than a
preponderance, the court found sufficient evidence the rib fractures were the result of
abuse but not the abnormalities in the wrists and ankles. The court also found the
hematoma and rib fractures were the result of intentional abuse that the parents inflicted
or at the very least knew about. The court concluded the parents should have noticed
M.L. was hurt during everyday activities like bathing or diaper changes, and it found
their various explanations for the injuries inconsistent and implausible.
At the disposition hearing on October 10, 2019, the court heard testimony from
both parents as well as a psychologist they’d hired to evaluate their ability to protect their
daughters. The psychologist’s report, which the court accepted into evidence,
“strong[ly]” recommended the parents be reunited with the girls “immediately.” The
psychologist had met with the parents after the court had taken jurisdiction over their
daughters, reviewed the court-filed documents, and given the parents a battery of
diagnostic tests. From these tests she concluded there was “nothing” to warrant any
“concerns” about their parenting. She opined that reunification services would likely
prevent future abuse or neglect.
5
This was the psychologist’s first time testifying in dependency court, though she
had performed about 10 psychological evaluations for dependency proceedings. She said
father had not appeared deceptive during the evaluation and mother had provided good
suggestions for how to keep M.L. safe, like keeping the baby in her eyesight and refusing
to let anyone hold, squeeze, or “cuddle” her. The psychologist believed that, going
forward, mother would be more protective, even from father, “almost like a mama bear.”
Father said he accepted the court’s jurisdictional findings. He denied injuring his
daughter but said it was “possible” mother or his parents had. He was willing to take
M.L. away from them if it turned out they had injured her. When asked how he would
protect M.L. going forward, he said he would keep his two-year-old daughter away from
her, and watch his family members when they were around. He said M.L. might have
been injured when her sister was interacting with her “too forcefully.” Mother said she
also accepted the court’s jurisdictional findings and was willing to do anything to protect
her daughters, including separating from father or other family members.
The court found the psychologist’s and the parents’ testimony concerning, and
afforded the psychologist’s opinion little weight because she did not appear competent in
juvenile law and had demonstrated a “complete lack of understanding” of the
jurisdictional findings. “I was alarmed that the doctor seemed to think that prevention” of
abuse could be achieved by not letting family members cuddle M.L.—“[t]hese injuries
did not occur from cuddling.” The court was also disturbed by the fact that neither parent
seemed to accept responsibility for their daughter having been the victim of severe abuse
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nor had they been able to explain why they hadn’t noticed the injuries. The court noted
they were almost six months into the proceeding and the parents were in the same
position as when the case started, with no explanation as to what happened to M.L.
The court found the parents had presented no evidence to indicate how services
could prevent future abuse and injury. As a result, it removed M.L. and her sister from
the parents’ custody, bypassed reunification services under section 361.5, subdivisions
(b)(5) and (b)(7), and set a permanency planning hearing. In December 2019, we issued
an opinion denying the parents’ writ petitions challenging these orders. (N.L. v. Superior
Court of San Bernardino County (Dec. 31, 2019, No. E073900) [2019 WL 7343244].)
B. Placement with the Maternal Great Aunt
The girls were placed with their maternal great aunt on July 5, 2019. By all
accounts, they had no issues adjusting to their new placement because they had known
the great aunt since birth. The girls were comfortable and happy in her care, and the great
aunt saw them as her own children, loved them very much, and wanted to adopt them.
Both girls were healthy, developmentally on track, and had normal temperaments for
children their age. They generally ate and slept well, with the exception that the older
sister had nightmares and separation anxiety on occasion (but the department’s report
does not indicate the object of the child’s separation anxiety, that is, whether it was
caused by being away from her parents or by, for example, being separated from the great
aunt at bedtime). The great aunt was taking the sister to mental health services once a
week to help with these issues.
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The great aunt had raised four children of her own who were now adults. She said
she would foster and maintain family relationships with the maternal and paternal
relatives as long as they behaved appropriately and acknowledged M.L. had been the
victim of abuse.
In March 2020, the department filed an addendum report notifying the court of
inappropriate behavior on the part of the parents. The great aunt had been allowing them
to attend M.L.’s medical appointments because she believed she was legally required to
as their parental rights had not been terminated. According to hospital staff, the parents
and the maternal grandmother were asking for genetic, orthopedic, and allergist referrals
because they wanted to do their own research about the cause of M.L.’s injuries. At one
point, mother became very upset because she wanted the referrals sent to a specific
hospital she preferred and said she’d pay cash if needed. A nurse practitioner who
worked at the hospital told the social worker the parents had also been calling and
harassing their telephone coordinator for the referrals.
The department attached to the addendum report a letter the maternal grandmother
had faxed the hospital on February 25, 2020 requesting referrals. The letter said she was
M.L.’s grandmother and the infant had “suffered injuries that can only be explained by
medical specialists.” She continued, “we are racing against the clock. I need a referral to
a geneticist and also an allergist. If I don’t get these exams done in time the county will
decide the entire course of my daughter’s family’s lives.”
8
The social worker told the great aunt that the family’s conduct was improper and
she shouldn’t allow them to attend M.L.’s medical appointments anymore. The great aunt
said she had no problem abiding by this rule. She also said she no longer wanted anything
to do with the parents, the maternal grandmother, or anyone else who didn’t believe M.L.
had been the victim of abuse, and she was willing to file a restraining order against the
parents if needed.
C. The Section 388 Petitions
On February 4, 2020, mother filed a section 388 petition seeking reunification
services. As new evidence since removal, she said her and father had scheduled further
appointments for M.L. with a “geneticist and an allergist who need further testing” and
that M.L. had “pending appointments [with] an orthopedic and endocrinologist.” She also
said she and father were “taking advantage of every parenting, child abuse prevention,
and counseling available to . . . protect our daughters while providing a safe loving and
nurturing environment for them.” However, she didn’t include any documentation or
specifics about any services she was participating in.
On May 29, 2020, father filed a section 388 petition requesting reunification
services. He said he had “gone above and beyond the requirements established by the
[department] and this Court” by completing additional counseling and a 12-week child
abuse program. He said he’d “worked very hard on issues, parental responsibilities,
boundary setting, coping skills, and communication skills” and had “made substantial
positive progress in my growth as a person and a parent.” He attached documentary
9
evidence of his therapy sessions as well as a certificate of completion for the child abuse
course. He also attached the polygraph report the juvenile court had excluded at the
jurisdiction hearing. The examination was administered by WestCoast Polygraph &
Associates, and they found father to be truthful when he denied injuring M.L. The
polygraph report noted that during pre-examination disclosures, father told them M.L.
had been born with jaundice and respiratory problems and he believed “her constant
coughing might have caused the fracturing to her ribs.”
The court summarily denied both parents’ petitions, concluding they had failed to
sufficiently allege changed circumstances warranting reunification services and how
services would be in the girls’ best interests.
On September 8, 2020, mother filed a request for reconsideration of her petition.
Her request said she “now acknowledges the existence of injuries relating to the abuse”
and is “in the process of developing coping skills to assist her.” In her accompanying
declaration, she said she had “previously enrolled into every class and completed them in
hopes that the insight gained would help me to understand, acknowledge and remediate
my errors.” She acknowledged those abuse-caused injuries had occurred while she was
responsible for the child and realized “[f]or that I remain responsible.” As with her initial
petition, she did not provide information about the services she had attended or proof of
attendance. The court denied mother’s request.
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D. Termination of Parental Rights
The girls’ permanency planning hearing took place on October 20, 2020. The
department recommended termination of parental rights and adoption. They believed the
great aunt could provide the girls with a safe, stable, and loving environment and that the
girls were bonded to her.
Father called the social worker as a witness to testify about the nature of his visits
with his daughters. She said the visits were positive, father was always appropriate and
affectionate, and he never missed one. The girls would hug and kiss him, M.L.’s sister
called him “daddy,” and M.L. alternated between calling him “dad” and “mom.”
At the close of this testimony, father’s counsel argued the parental benefit
exception applied to father. Mother’s counsel did not argue the parental benefit exception
applied but “merely asked the Court not to proceed with [termination of parental rights]
at this time and perhaps allow my client additional time to attempt adequate
reunification.”
The court found the parental benefit exception did not apply to either parent. It
found that despite maintaining consistent, positive visits with the girls, the parents had
not occupied a parental role in their daughters’ lives since removal, and there was no
evidence the girls would suffer detriment if adopted. “We’re . . . talking about very young
children, for [the older sister adoption] would be 15-plus years of permanency, for [M.L.]
that would be 17-plus years of permanency. So in balancing I find that their right to
permanency far outweighs any existential detriment that would exist from the pleasant
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visits [with the parents].” The court terminated mother’s and father’s parental rights,
found the girls adoptable, and selected adoption as their permanent plan.
II
ANALYSIS
A. The Section 388 Petitions
The parents argue the court erred by summarily denying their petitions because
they established a prima facie case that their circumstances had changed, which required
the court to hold an evidentiary hearing. (§ 388, subd. (d).) We disagree.
A juvenile court may modify or set aside a dependency order under section 388 if
the petitioner establishes by a preponderance of the evidence (i) a legitimate change of
circumstances and (ii) that undoing the prior order would be in the best interest of the
child. (In re S.J. (2008) 167 Cal.App.4th 953, 959.) The petitioner must show that the
relevant circumstances have in fact changed, not merely that they are in the process of
changing. (In re Casey D. (1999) 70 Cal.App.4th 38, 47.)
To obtain an evidentiary hearing, the petitioner must allege facts sufficient to
demonstrate a prima facie case for the modification they seek. (§ 388, subd. (d); In re
Marilyn H. (1993) 5 Cal.4th 295, 309-310.) A petitioner demonstrates a prima facie case
for relief when the allegations in their petition, when liberally construed, support a
12
finding of both changed circumstances and best interests of the child. (In re Aljamie D.
2
(2000) 84 Cal.App.4th 424, 431-432.)
We review the denial of a section 388 petition for abuse of discretion and will not
overturn the juvenile court’s decision unless the appellant shows it to be arbitrary,
capricious, or patently absurd. (In re S.J., supra, 167 Cal.App.4th at pp. 959-960.)
Here, the juvenile court’s conclusion that the parents failed to sufficiently allege
changed circumstances falls well within the bounds of reason. As the court pointed out,
since removal nothing relevant about the parents’ situation had changed. They were still
together, they still depended on the same family members for support, and, most
importantly, they were still in denial (at best) or defensive (at worst) about the cause of
M.L.’s injuries. This is clear from the fact that, months after the jurisdictional findings of
abuse, they were still trying to find explanations for M.L.’s injuries that didn’t involve
nonaccidential injury.
The parents argue that the juvenile court placed them in an impossible situation, a
confession dilemma, by essentially requiring them to admit to abusing their child for the
court to consider giving them reunification services, when a confession would also
provide the very basis for denying services. But that was not the concern the juvenile
2Father argues the juvenile court failed to apply this liberal pleading standard
when assessing the sufficiency of his petition. He is wrong. The court explicitly stated, “I
have read [father’s] petition . . . and I don’t find that it meets even the liberally construed
prima facie standard to set a hearing.” It noted that if father’s petition “went to a hearing
there would be a higher standard of [proof because] this was a no services case to begin
with,” but said it was, at the prima facie stage, “treating [father’s petition] as any other
388.”
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court had about the parents’ ability to safely care for their daughters. The court found that
M.L. had been abused but acknowledged that the abuser’s identity was unknown.
Assuming the parents had not inflicted the abuse, their failure, then, was not in abusing
the child but in recognizing she was injured and protecting her from further harm—and
not just once, but on at least two separate occasions. The juvenile court told the parents
how they could be more protective at the disposition hearing and it wasn’t confessing to
the abuse. It was by demonstrating how they would ensure a protective child care
environment that, for example, didn’t involve those caring for the child when she was
abused. Nearly a year later, the parents still hadn’t shown how they could be protective.
(See, e.g., In re Madison S. (2017) 15 Cal.App.5th 308, 327 [“services for father might
have been appropriate without an . . . admission of guilt . . . , if, for example, mother was
willing to take affirmative steps to keep the child safe and/or both parents agreed [the
child] was a victim of abuse and should be treated as such” but “neither parent was even
willing to acknowledge that nonaccidental injury occurred, conduct amounting to ‘a
willful denial of the injuries themselves’”].)
Next, the parents point to their voluntary participation in services after removal as
3
proof they sufficiently alleged changed circumstances. Though father’s petition
3 Father argues the juvenile court found he did demonstrate changed
circumstances but failed to demonstrate reunification was in the girls’ best interests. This
mischaracterizes the record. The court concluded father failed to sufficiently allege facts
to permit it to “find either a change in circumstances or best interest.” But even if the
court had found father sufficiently alleged changed circumstances, “we review the lower
court’s ruling, not its reasoning [and] we may affirm that ruling if it was correct on any
ground.” (In re Natasha A. (1996) 42 Cal.App.4th 28, 38.)
14
contained more detail and documentation, both parents alleged engaging in the same type
of services—counseling and parenting classes—and obtaining essentially the same type
of insights—they can now accept M.L. was “injured” in their care and now have the
communication, boundary-setting, and coping skills to provide a “loving” home. These
allegations demonstrate a failure to grasp the seriousness of a section 300, subdivision (e)
jurisdictional finding. When a parent fails to notice their infant daughter has been not
injured but abused in their care on two occasions, their parenting issue is failure to
protect, not poor communication or boundary setting.
This is not a case of drug abuse, domestic violence, or neglect, where the parent
can reduce the risk they pose to their child by learning about their issues and working to
treat them. This is a case where a child was severely physically abused on multiple
occasions and the parents failed to notice. That type of issue is not one that can be treated
by attending individual counseling sessions or a 12-week child abuse program. The
change in circumstances required in this context must be substantial and, crucially,
related to the risk the parents pose. (In re Heraclio A. (1996) 42 Cal.App.4th 569, 577.)
But even if the parents had alleged facts demonstrating a legitimate change in
circumstance, the court could reasonably conclude that reunification services would not
be in the girls’ best interests at this point. Once reunification services are denied or
terminated, the focus shifts from keeping the family together “‘to the needs of the child
for permanency and stability.’” (In re Stephanie M. (1994) 7 Cal.4th 295, 317.) When the
court denied the petitions, the girls had been out of the parent’s care for over a year. This
15
means M.L. has spent almost her entire young life in her great aunt’s care, and her sister
almost half her life. The girls have known the great aunt since birth; they immediately
bonded with her and are happy and healthy in her care. Granting a section 388 petition
would delay selection of a permanent home for these very young children and not serve
their best interests. (In re Casey D., supra, 70 Cal.App.4th at p. 47.) Summary denial of
4
the petitions was proper.
B. The Parental Benefit Exception
The parents also argue the court erred in finding the parental benefit exception did
not apply.
“‘The objective of the dependency scheme is to protect abused or neglected
children and those at substantial risk thereof and to provide permanent, stable homes if
those children cannot be returned home within a prescribed period of time.’ [Citation.]
When the child is removed from the home, the court first attempts, for a specified period
of time, to reunify the family.” (In re Celine R. (2003) 31 Cal.4th 45, 52.) And, as we’ve
just seen, when a dependency reaches this stage, the focus shifts from keeping the family
together to the children’s need for permanency and stability. (See In re Jasmine D. (2000)
78 Cal.App.4th 1339, 1348 [“By the time of a section 366.26 hearing, the parent’s
interest in reunification is no longer an issue and the child’s interest in a stable and
permanent placement is paramount”].) “[I]t is only in an extraordinary case that
4 Because we find no error in the court’s summary denial, we do not address
mother’s argument that she was prejudiced by not being able to testify about certain
details lacking from her petition, like “the quality of [her] visits” with her daughters.
(Italics added.)
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preservation of the parent’s rights will prevail over the Legislature’s preference for
adoptive placement.” (Id. at p. 1350.)
The statutory parental benefit exception applies when (i) the parent has
“maintained regular visitation and contact with the child and the child would benefit from
continuing the relationship” and (ii) the court finds that the parent-child relationship
presents a “compelling reason for determining that termination [of parental rights] would
be detrimental to the child.” (§ 366.26, subd. (c)(1)(B)(i), italics added.)
Recently, our Supreme Court provided guidance on how we should apply this
exception. (In re Caden C. (2021) 11 Cal.5th 614 (Caden C.).) “The language of this
exception, along with its history and place in the larger dependency scheme, show that
[it] applies in situations where a child cannot be in a parent’s custody but where severing
the child’s relationship with the parent, even when balanced against the benefits of a new
adoptive home, would be harmful for the child.” (Id. at p. 630.)
Our high court indicated we should continue to be guided in our understanding of
these elements by one of the foundational appellate court opinions discussing the parental
benefit exception, In re Autumn H. (1994) 27 Cal.App.4th 567 (Autumn H.), which
emphasized that in “assessing whether termination would be detrimental, the trial court
must decide whether the harm from severing the child’s relationship with the parent
outweighs the benefit to the child of placement in a new adoptive home.” (See Autumn
H., at p. 575.) “‘If severing the natural parent/child relationship would deprive the child
of a substantial, positive emotional attachment such that,’ even considering the benefits
17
of a new adoptive home, termination would ‘harm[]’ the child, the court should not
terminate parental rights. (Ibid.) That subtle, case-specific inquiry is what the statute asks
courts to perform: does the benefit of placement in a new, adoptive home outweigh ‘the
harm [the child] would experience from the loss of [a] significant, positive, emotional
relationship with [the parent?]’ [Citation.] When the relationship with a parent is so
important to the child that the security and stability of a new home wouldn’t outweigh its
loss, termination would be ‘detrimental to the child due to’ the child’s beneficial
relationship with a parent.” (Caden C., supra, 11 Cal.5th at pp. 633-634.)
Under Caden C., that is the end of the analysis. Some appellate courts have
interpreted the exception to require some additional compelling reason for its application,
but our Supreme Court made clear that’s no longer permitted. The only compelling
reason required for the exception to apply is when the parent-child relationship is so
significant it outweighs the benefits of adoption. (Caden C., supra, 11 Cal.5th at pp. 632-
633, 642.)
“What this means is that the parent asserting the parental benefit exception must
show, by a preponderance of the evidence, three things. The parent must show regular
visitation and contact with the child, taking into account the extent of visitation
permitted. Moreover, the parent must show that the child has a substantial, positive,
emotional attachment to the parent—the kind of attachment implying that the child would
benefit from continuing the relationship. And the parent must show that terminating that
18
attachment would be detrimental to the child even when balanced against the
countervailing benefit of a new, adoptive home. When the parent has met that burden, the
parental-benefit exception applies such that it would not be in the best interest of the
child to terminate parental rights, and the court should select a permanent plan other than
adoption.” (Caden C., supra, 11 Cal.5th at pp. 636-637.)
Caden C. also resolved a conflict over the standard of review in such cases. The
substantial evidence standard applies to the court’s finding on the frequency of contact
and the existence of a beneficial relationship. (Caden C., supra, 11 Cal.5th at pp. 639-
640.) And the abuse of discretion standard applies to the court’s decision whether
terminating parental rights would be detrimental to the child so as to outweigh the
permanency benefits of adoption. (Id. at pp. 640-641.)
Here, it’s undisputed the parents maintained consistent and positive contact with
their daughters. The only question we face is whether they demonstrated they shared such
a substantial, positive emotional attachment with their daughters that the harm of
severing the parent-child relationship outweighed the benefit of stability in adoption. On
this point, the parents have not shown the exception applies. The parents are not wrong
that the record shows their visits went well and the girls enjoyed being with them. But
such evidence falls short of establishing their relationships with their daughters were
positive and substantial enough to outweigh the permanency benefits of adoption. This is
because the girls also exhibited a strong relationship with their current caretaker, the
maternal great aunt. Both girls were very young when they were removed from the
19
parents’ home and placed with their great aunt, whom they had known since birth. Now,
after almost a year and a half, they are bonded to her and look to her to have their needs
met. And she has been taking good care of them; there have been no injuries since they
were placed in her care.
Mother argues there is evidence M.L.’s older sister will suffer great harm if
adopted because she had nightmares in the great aunt’s care and would cry at the end of
visits. But we do not find this compelling enough to forgo adoption. Nightmares are a
relatively minor and common issue with very young children (and there is no reason to
think the sister’s nightmares are linked to being out of mother’s care). It is also common
for a young child to be sad at the end of a positive and loving visit with their parent. But
courts have repeatedly found that such visits are not a sufficient reason to deprive a child
of the stability benefits of adoption. (See, e.g., In re Bailey J. (2010) 189 Cal.App.4th
1308, 1316 [no exception where “[a]t best, mother’s supervised interactions with [her
daughter] amounted to little more than playdates for [her] with a loving adult”].) Because
the girls are so young, bonded to their current caretaker, and doing well in her home,
there is no evidence that the harm in severing mother’s and father’s parental rights
outweighs the permanency benefits they will gain through adoption.
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III
DISPOSITION
We affirm the judgment.
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS
SLOUGH
J.
We concur:
CODRINGTON
Acting P. J.
FIELDS
J.
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