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Name: In re A.C.
Case #: H034769
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 6 DCA
Opinion Date: 07/15/2010
Summary

Section 388, not 387, is the appropriate means under which a supplemental petition regarding a freed dependent child should be filed. A.C. was a dependent who had been freed for adoption but was no longer in an adoptive home. The department filed, and the juvenile court sustained over A.C.’s objection, a Welfare and Institutions Code section 387 petition to remove A.C. from the temporary foster home and move her to a group home. The court made the findings required by section 387 that the prior placement was ineffective, including that A.C. had been destructive to property and sexually inappropriate. On appeal, A.C. argued that the court erred by allowing the department to proceed under section 387; it should have required a 388 petition. The appellate court agreed and reversed the orders. Section 387 does not apply to children freed for adoption. Section 388 is the appropriate means to change the placement of a child who is a dependent of the court. It does not require specific factual findings; the court would only need to make a finding that there had been a change in circumstances in order to move A.C. It would not need to make the specific negative findings to which A.C. objected.