L.A. Cnty. Dep't of Children & Family Servs. v. A.C. (In re A.R.)

In re A.R., a Person Coming Under the Juvenile Court Law.

LOS ANGELES COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. A.C., Defendant and Appellant.

B306563

COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT DIVISION FIVE

May 26, 2021

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

(Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. 20CCJP02783A)

APPEAL from orders of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Lisa A. Brackelmanns, Judge. Affirmed.

Jesse McGowan, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

Rodrigo A. Castro-Silva, County Counsel, Kim Nemoy, Assistant County Counsel, Stephen D. Watson, Deputy County Counsel, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

A.C. (Father) appeals from a juvenile court dependency jurisdiction finding concerning his son A.R. (Minor), as well as an order removing Minor from Father's and R.R.'s (Mother's) custody. The juvenile court found Minor was at substantial risk of serious physical harm from Father's history of mental and emotional problems and Mother's willingness to permit Father to reside in the home and have unlimited access to Minor. Mother has not appealed from the juvenile court's jurisdiction finding and disposition order, but Father asks us to decide whether substantial evidence supports both. He also argues the juvenile court erred in considering assertedly privileged statements made by hospital personnel during Father's involuntary psychiatric hospitalization, but, as we will explain, that is an issue we need not resolve.

I. BACKGROUND

A. The Referral Regarding Father's Mental Health

On the evening of May 8, 2020, the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (the Department) responded to a referral alleging general neglect of Minor, who was seven years old at the time. According to the reporting party, a man (later identified as Father) had been running in and out of the street, throwing water bottles at cars, and masturbating in public.

A Department social worker arrived on the scene and observed a man standing in the street waving and yelling at cars. The social worker requested assistance from law enforcement before approaching Mother's duplex-style apartment. A psychiatric social worker from the Department of Mental Health was also present on the scene when the police arrived. She foundFather's behavior to be "'bizarre, agitated, and paranoid'" and she observed Father "yelling at the officers with hopes of intimidating them." When she tried to engage with Father, he was "very delusional and . . . not making sense in his statements."

When the Department social worker, accompanied by police officers, knocked on the door of the apartment where Minor and his parents were living, Mother and Father refused to let them in. When the social worker explained (through the door) that she wanted to speak with Minor, Father brought Minor to a window and permitted the social worker to speak with him only through the window. Minor told the social worker he felt safe, was not afraid of Mother or Father, and denied any verbal, physical, or sexual abuse. As far as the social worker could tell from the conversation through the window, Minor appeared calm and in good health and good spirits.

Father, however, became increasingly hostile during the social worker's conversation with Minor and began directing "racial slurs" toward the social worker and the accompanying officers. The social worker and the police officers, on the officers' recommendation, left the immediate area in an effort to avoid any further escalation in light of Father's mounting anger (he had come outside the home and was yelling at them from the street when they were no longer near the apartment door).

The following day, May 9, 2020, another Department social worker and an accompanying police officer returned to the home and attempted to interview Mother and Father. They again refused to open the door and Father became "very vulgar" toward the social worker and the accompanying officer. Father also issued a not-so-veiled threat, telling the social worker and the police officer that if they tried "'to come in here, I have somethingwaiting for you guys.'" The officer advised the social worker to move away from the apartment's front door, and, after the officer consulted with a police department supervisor, both left the area.

The assigned social worker continued to investigate Minor's welfare by speaking to two neighboring tenants (otherwise unidentified by the Department's reporting) in Mother's apartment building. Both neighbors stated they had heard yelling and profanity from the home of the family, and one of the neighbors reported hearing Mother hitting Minor on two occasions. Neither neighbor, however, reported seeing any bruises or unusual marks on Minor. The social worker also reported receiving "criminal docket" information for Father that revealed he underwent "mental competency proceedings in criminal [c]ourt in 2019[ ] in relation to a conviction for battery/assault."¹

B. Father's Involuntary Hospitalization and Further Department Investigation

Four days after the last visit by the police and the social worker to Mother and Father's home, i.e., on May 13, 2020, the police had Father involuntarily hospitalized at Huntington Hospital pursuant to section 5150 of the Welfare and Institutions Code. That statute permits taking a person into custody for up to 72 hours for "assessment, evaluation, and crisis intervention" when there is probable cause the "person, as a result of a mentalhealth disorder, is a danger to others, or to himself or herself, or gravely disabled." (Welf. & Inst. Code,² § 5150, subd. (a).)

While Father was being held involuntarily, a Department social worker interviewed Mother. She acknowledged Father was yelling and "behaving awkwardly" when police and a social worker first visited the family home on May 8th, but Mother explained she did not open the door for law enforcement because "she did not want to hear [F]ather's mouth." As Mother put it, "'That was his issue and I did not want to be in it.'" Mother also expressed more general frustrations with the police department because she said she previously contacted the police when Father's behavior was "manic" and yet the police refused to help; according to Mother, her last call to the police was about three weeks earlier when Father was screaming at her.³ Mother attributed Father's recent behavior to increased stress, but when asked if Father had mental health problems or took psychotropic medication, Mother denied that he did.⁴ She also denied Fatherever physically assaulted her and she claimed she was not fearful of Father (though she did concede he "verbally assaults" her).⁵

The social worker also interviewed Minor (Mother was present during the interview). When Minor was asked if he knew why the social worker wanted to talk to him, he said "'[Father] was arrested, in my opinion he was arrested for no reason.'" Asked specifically about what occurred on May 8th (the day the Department first visited the family home), Minor said Father was upset and yelling but Minor did not know why. Minor also told the interviewing social worker that Father yells at Mother often, but Minor again said he did not know why. Minor denied being fearful of either parent, however, and he said he never saw domestic violence between the two. He also denied being physically disciplined by his parents and denied "all forms of abuse and neglect."

A Department social worker communicated with personnel at the hospital where Father was being held for evaluation (these communications would be the subject of Father's later claim of privilege). The day after Father's admission, an employee of the hospital's "psych unit" said Father had been behaving erratically and would yell when spoken to, but there was no diagnosis yet because he had not been seen by a psychiatrist. The following day, the hospital social worker overseeing Father's care informed the Department that Father had been assessed by a "Dr. Kurkjian" and given a primary diagnosis of psychosis with a secondary diagnosis of bipolar disorder with psychotic features. The social worker said hospital personnel had offered medicationto Father, but he refused to take it. The hospital social worker further advised that Father's 72-hour involuntary hold could be extended if medical personnel found it necessary based on his progress or lack thereof.⁶

Father was held for longer than the 72 hours permitted by section 5150: he was discharged from the hospital on May 19, 2020, i.e., six days after being admitted. Later that same day, the Department obtained a warrant to remove Minor from his parents' custody. When the police and Department social workers arrived at the family home to execute the removal warrant, the parents initially refused access to Minor, but they eventually relented—though Father cursed and yelled profanities at the social workers and police officers.

Once removed from his parents' custody, Minor spoke with a social worker and said he had felt safe with his parents. He revealed, however, that Mother and Father often argued and Mother would "tape[ ] the holes in the apartment walls" because she believed there were cameras and microphones in the apartment. In some contrast to his statement during a prior interview in Mother's presence, Minor revealed his parents didphysically discipline him on occasion but he said "they don't do it a lot." Minor also stated he would view his time in foster care as a "vacation" for his parents because he frequently made them mad. Minor did not elaborate.

C. The Petition and Post-Detention Investigation

In May...