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In re A.B.

California Court of Appeals, Third District, Butte
Mar 28, 2008
No. C056665 (Cal. Ct. App. Mar. 28, 2008)

Opinion


In re A.B. et al., Persons Coming Under the Juvenile Court Law. BUTTE COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF EMPLOYMENT AND SOCIAL SERVICES, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Wendy B., Defendant and Appellant. C056665 California Court of Appeal, Third District, Butte March 28, 2008

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED

Super. Ct. Nos. J32078, J32079

ROBIE, J.

Appellant Wendy B., mother of A. B. and C. B. (the minors), appeals from an order of the juvenile court terminating parental rights (Welf. & Inst. Code, §§ 366.26, 395), arguing the court failed to secure jurisdiction over the minors’ father, E. B. Because appellant lacks standing to raise that contention, we shall dismiss her appeal.

At the time the minors were detained, A. B. was five years old and C. B. was eight years old.

All further statutory references are to the Welfare and Institutions Code unless otherwise indicated.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

The Department of Social Services filed petitions alleging the minors should be detained due to the parents’ failure to protect. (§ 300, subd. (b).) Among other things, the petitions alleged that appellant had “limited . . . ability to provide proper supervision” to the minors due to conditions including admitted long-term depression, schizo-affective disorder, and agoraphobia, and that the father “is required to register as a sex offender pursuant to Penal Code [section] 290” and “has been incarcerated and not provided for the care or support of” the minors for most of their lives.

At the contested 18-month review hearing, the court terminated reunification services to both parents and set a hearing to determine permanent placement of the minors. (§ 366.26.)

Appellant filed a JV-180 form seeking modification of the court’s order terminating reunification services. After denying appellant’s request, the court found the minors adoptable and terminated the parental rights of both parents pursuant to section 366.26.

Appellant filed a timely notice of appeal.

DISCUSSION

Appellant contends that because the juvenile court failed to secure jurisdiction over the father for purposes of the section 366.26 hearing, the order terminating parental rights must be reversed.

Respondent argues appellant’s appeal should be dismissed because appellant lacks standing to challenge the court’s order on the father’s behalf. (In re Caitlin B. (2000) 78 Cal.App.4th 1190; In re Jenelle C. (1987) 197 Cal.App.3d 813.) We agree.

A party who is not injured by an alleged error of service on another parent does not have standing to argue the alleged defective service on appeal. (In re Jenelle C., supra, 197 Cal.App.3d 818.)

Here, appellant’s entire argument focuses on the alleged failure to serve notice of the 366.26 hearing on the father. She does not contend that she was injured as a result of that alleged failure of service on the father. Instead, she urges that “the court’s lack of jurisdiction as to the father and it’s [sic] consequent inability to terminate his parental rights in his absence precludes termination of appellant’s parental rights.” (See Cal. Rules of Court, rule 5.725(a)(2).) We previously rejected that argument in Caitlin B., where we held that “[n]othing in [former rule 1463(a)] gives appellant the right to urge on appeal that an error in terminating the father’s rights redounds to her benefit so as to make into error an errorless termination of her parental rights.” (In re Caitlin B., supra, 78 Cal.App.4th at p. 1194.) We therefore conclude appellant lacks standing to raise the issue.

Prior to being amended and renumbered on January 1, 2007, rule 5.725 was formerly known as rule 1463.

DISPOSITION

The appeal is dismissed.

We concur: SCOTLAND, P.J., SIMS, J.


Summaries of

In re A.B.

California Court of Appeals, Third District, Butte
Mar 28, 2008
No. C056665 (Cal. Ct. App. Mar. 28, 2008)
Case details for

In re A.B.

Case Details

Full title:BUTTE COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF EMPLOYMENT AND SOCIAL SERVICES, Plaintiff and…

Court:California Court of Appeals, Third District, Butte

Date published: Mar 28, 2008

Citations

No. C056665 (Cal. Ct. App. Mar. 28, 2008)