Los Angeles County Department of Children & Family Services v. Heriberto C.

Opinion

BAXTER, J.

Jesusa V. became the subject of this dependency action when her biological father, Heriberto C., was taken into police custody for beating and raping her mother, and her mother, who was pregnant at the time, was hospitalized because of her injuries. At the detention hearing, the juvenile court ordered Jesusa to be placed with Paul B., the mother’s husband and the father of her five other children.

Paul, who was married to the mother at the time Jesusa was bom and who had received the child into his home and had held her out as his own, promptly requested a declaration that he…