In re P.C.

Full title: In re P.C., a Person Coming Under the Juvenile Court Law. VENTURA COUNTY…

Court: California Court of Appeals, Second District, Sixth Division

Date published: Feb 20, 2008

2d Juv. No. B199935 (Cal. Ct. App. Feb. 20, 2008)

Opinion

In re P.C., a Person Coming Under the Juvenile Court Law. VENTURA COUNTY HUMAN SERVICES AGENCY, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. DORI C., Defendant and Appellant. 2d Juv. No. B199935 California Court of Appeal, Second District, Sixth DivisionFebruary 20, 2008

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS

Super. Ct. No. J066035, Ventura County.

ORDER MODIFYING OPINION AND DENYING REHEARING

It is ordered that the opinion filed on January 23, 2008, be modified as follows:

On page 8, the last paragraph beginning "To the extent mother urges . . ." is deleted and replaced with the following:

To the extent mother argues that we must consider P.'s relationship with mother's entire family in evaluating whether one of the exceptions to adoption applies, she lacks standing to assert the interests of other family members in preserving their relationships with the child. (In re Devin M. (1997) 58 Cal.App.4th 1538, 1541.) In any event, P.'s relationship with other members of mother's family is not relevant to any of the exceptions enumerated in section 366.26, subdivision (c)(1).

Mother also urges us to retroactively apply a recent amendment to section 366.26, which provides an exception to termination of parental rights where "[t]he child is living with a relative who is unable or unwilling to adopt the child because of circumstances that do not include an unwillingness to accept legal or financial responsibility for the child, but who is willing and capable of providing the child with a stable and permanent environment through legal guardianship, and the removal of the child from the custody of his or her relative would be detrimental to the emotional well-being of the child." (§ 366.26, subd. (c)(1)(A).) Even if this amendment is retroactive,¹ it has no application here. A relative is defined as an adult related by blood, adoption, or marriage (§§ 361.5, subd. (g)(1)(D), 319, subd. (f)(2); Cal. Rules of Court, rule 5.502(1)), while a non-relative extended family member is defined as "any adult caregiver who has an established familial or mentoring relationship with the child." (§ 362.7.) P.'s prospective adoptive mother is the maternal aunt of P.'s paternal half-brother. Because P. is not related to her by blood, adoption or marriage, she is identified as a non-relative extended family member, not a relative. Moreover, the prospective adoptive parents unequivocally indicated that they were willing and able to adopt P. and did not intend to continue visitation with mother's family.

1 The amendment became effective on January 1, 2008. Mother's parental rights were terminated on April 27, 2007.

There is no change in the judgment.

Appellant's petition for rehearing is denied.