L. A. Cnty. Dep't of Children & Family Servs. v. Tyler W. (In re Andrew W.)
| Decision Date | 22 October 2021 |
| Docket Number | B310133,B311326 |
| Parties | In re ANDREW W. et al., Persons Coming Under the Juvenile Court Law. v. TYLER W., Defendant and Appellant. LOS ANGELES COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES, Plaintiff and Respondent, |
| Court | California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
In re ANDREW W. et al., Persons Coming Under the Juvenile Court Law.
LOS ANGELES COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES, Plaintiff and Respondent,
v.
TYLER W., Defendant and Appellant.
B310133, B311326
California Court of Appeals, Second District, Seventh Division
October 22, 2021
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED
APPEALS from orders of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, No. 19LJJP00792A-C Robin R. Kesler, Juvenile Court Referee. Dismissed in part and affirmed in part.
Nicole Williams, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.
Rodrigo A. Castro-Silva, County Counsel, Kim Nemoy, Assistant County Counsel, and Stephanie Jo Reagan, Principal Deputy County Counsel, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
SEGAL, J.
INTRODUCTION
Tyler W., mother of now seven-year-old Andrew W., six-year-old Jonathon D., [1] and three-year-old Ethan W., appeals from the juvenile court's jurisdiction findings and disposition orders declaring her children dependents of the court under Welfare and Institutions Code section 300[2] and removing them from her custody, and from orders awarding the children's respective fathers sole custody and terminating jurisdiction. The custody orders and the orders terminating jurisdiction render Tyler's appeal from the disposition orders moot. But because an error in the juvenile court's jurisdiction findings could adversely affect Tyler's custody rights, and because Tyler appealed from the custody orders and orders terminating jurisdiction, the appeal from the jurisdiction findings is not moot, although we conclude substantial evidence supported the court's findings. Because Tyler makes no substantive argument the custody orders or orders terminating jurisdiction were erroneous, apart from her
arguments regarding the jurisdiction findings and disposition orders, we affirm the custody orders and orders terminating jurisdiction.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
A. The Department Receives Multiple Referrals Concerning the Family
Beginning in 2017 the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services received several reports of potential abuse or neglect involving the family. In one instance, on July 29, 2019, a neighbor in Tyler's apartment building found Andrew and Jonathon "wandering around the complex, 'about 100 feet' from the home" without any adult supervision.[3] The neighbor asked the children where their parents were, and Andrew said his "mother was gone." The neighbor kept the children until law enforcement arrived.
Tyler explained that, because the children's babysitter, Reina, had not arrived when Tyler needed to leave for work, Tyler told Reina that she would lock the door to the apartment and that five-year-old Andrew would unlock the door for Reina when she arrived. Tyler left the apartment at 6:00 p.m. and "checked-in" with Reina half an hour later. Tyler said Reina told her the children were fine and sent her a text message with a photo of the children asleep. Law enforcement officers "observe[d] the text messages between [Tyler] and Reina and confirm[ed] [Tyler's] statements." Tyler and a police officer attempted to contact Reina, but Reina did not answer her phone
or respond to Tyler's messages. The Department concluded the reported information did not "meet criteria for child abuse or neglect."
On September 16, 2019 someone notified the child abuse hotline that Tyler brought then 14-month-old Ethan to the hospital with second-degree burns on his left palm and fingers. Tyler told hospital staff that four days earlier Ethan was burned by "an unknown object" at his daycare center, but that the center did not provide an incident report. The burns were infected, blistered, and festering. The caller stated that Tyler's story did not make sense because a daycare center generally provides reports of injuries occurring at the center. The caller also observed that Ethan's burns looked as though they were made by a curling iron and that Ethan's two brothers were "dirty and unkempt."
After Tyler failed to return the Department's telephone calls, a social worker contacted Jonathon and Ethan's daycare center and spoke with a teacher. The teacher said that the children did not come to school dirty, but that Jonathon would come to school "with no underwear and wearing the same clothes for two days." The teacher said the children "at times" had no socks or sweaters. The teacher was aware of the burn on Ethan's hand and told the social worker that Tyler told her it was caused by a curling iron.
Andrew and Jonathon's father, Christopher D., told the Department he had not seen his children for two months because Tyler "changed the family law order" governing his visits to "no visitation." Christopher said he had "concerns" about the children living with Tyler because he observed bruises on Andrew's legs where Christopher thought Tyler had hit Andrew.
Christopher's mother told the Department that Andrew and Jonathon smelled and had no socks or underwear when they visited her. Andrew and Jonathon's paternal aunt said the children's hair was dirty when they visited their grandmother. Ethan's paternal grandmother also told the Department that Ethan was "dirty" and that his clothing smelled when he visited his father, Alex G. When a social worker observed the children at their respective schools, however, they appeared well groomed and properly dressed.
On October 29, 2019, while the Department was investigating the circumstances of Ethan's burn, the Department received another referral concerning an incident that occurred a few months earlier. On August 17, 2019 Tyler took Ethan to visit his father, Alex. Alex said Tyler was angry with him because he had not been returning her phone calls or text messages. Alex saw Tyler parked across the street from his house, and he went outside to get Ethan. Tyler accelerated toward Alex and "abruptly stopped her car about 4 feet from him." Tyler got out of her car and began yelling at Alex and his wife, Wendy, who was standing in the doorway.[4] Alex and Wendy went back inside the house and watched on security cameras as Tyler threw rocks at Alex's car, causing a dent, before driving away with Ethan still in her car. Alex called the police and unsuccessfully sought a restraining order against Tyler. The People charged Tyler with felony vandalism.
A social worker questioned Tyler about the incident at Alex's house. Tyler said that she never tried to hit Alex with her car and that Wendy came out of the house "wanting to fight."
Tyler said she did not want Ethan spending time with Wendy because there was a restraining order prohibiting Wendy from having contact with Wendy's child. A family law protective order in force at the time prohibited Ethan from sleeping overnight at Alex's house because of the restraining order against Wendy. Yet Ethan had recently stayed with Alex over the weekend while Tyler went to a concert. During Tyler's meeting with the social worker, Tyler admitted Ethan burned his hand when he climbed up on a stepstool and reached for a recently unplugged curling iron. Tyler claimed she immediately took Ethan to a doctor.
The Department also obtained incident reports from Jonathon and Ethan's daycare center showing that, between June 10, 2019 and October 29, 2019, there were 17 reports of injuries sustained somewhere other than at the center. These reports included "'bad diaper rash, '" various scratches and red marks on the children's bodies, and bruises and marks on their faces. One incident report stated Jonathon showed a teacher his underwear and told the teacher "there was 'po[o]p from last night. Mommy didn't want to change me because she said I was too sick.'"
B. The Department Detains the Children and Files a Petition Under Section 300
On October 30, 2019 the Department detained the children, placed Andrew and Jonathon with their paternal grandmother, and placed Ethan with his father. At the detention hearing on November 5, 2019 the juvenile court removed the children from Tyler and ordered monitored visitation. The court also ordered the Department to provide Tyler, among other things, counseling,
parenting classes, and a domestic violence program, as determined by a multidisciplinary assessment team.
On November 4, 2019 the Department filed a petition under section 300 alleging six counts, only two of which are at issue in this appeal.[5] Count b-1 alleged under section 300, subdivision (b)(1), the children came within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court as a result of Tyler's "assaultive behavior" directed at Alex when she threw rocks at his car in Ethan's presence. Count b-3 alleged under section 300, subdivision (b)(1), that Tyler's failure to supervise the children allowed the children to wander around the apartment complex alone and Ethan to burn his hand and that such "failure to provide appropriate parental care and supervision . . . endanger[ed] the [children's] physical health, safety and well-being, create[d] a detrimental home environment and place[d] the children at risk of serious physical harm, damage and danger."
Following the children's detention, a social worker interviewed Tyler. Tyler said that, after Ethan burned his hand, she ran cold water on it and treated it with a cream. When he developed blisters two days later, she took him to the doctor and to a follow-up visit a week later. She said, "'I did what I was supposed to do.'" The record does not indicate whether Tyler explained why this account of the incident differed from her original explanation.
In connection with the allegation Tyler's failure to supervise the children led to them wandering around the apartment complex, Tyler said she never left the children
unattended or unsupervised. She said that Reina had watched the children in the past without incident, that she sent a text message to Reina asking how the children were...
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