California Court of Appeal

In a juvenile dependency action, juvenile court order terminating parents rights and order vacating the bonding study is reversed where: 1) the court abused its discretion in granting the petition for modification to vacate the order for a bonding study as the evidence that a Spanish-speaking psychologist qualified to perform the study was unavailable did not constitute changed circumstances and there was no evidence that the ruling was in the best interests of the minors; and 2) the order terminating parental rights is dependent on the assumption that termination is not detrimental to the minors, which is undermined by a lack of evidence to demonstrate such detriment.

Appellate Information

• Decided 05/01/2009
• Published 05/01/2009

Judges

• NICHOLSON, Acting P.J.

Court

• California Court of Appeal

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• Roshni Mehta, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, Folsom, for Defendant and Appellant M.M., Leslie A. Barry, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant J.R., Robert A. Ryan, Jr., County Counsel, and Scott M. Fera, Deputy County Counsel, for Plaintiff and Respondent.