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Name: In re Bryan D.
Case #: B229066
Opinion Date: 09/13/2011
Division: 8
Citation: 199 Cal.App.4th 127
Summary

The juvenile court properly denied grandmother presumed mother status but erred in denying her de facto parent status. The 13-year-old minor was removed from his grandmother after she left him home alone and went to visit family in Mexico. Grandmother moved to be named the presumed mother of the minor, or in the alternative, the de facto parent. It was undisputed that grandmother had raised the minor and that at first he did not know that she was not his mother. However, the minor had known she was his grandmother for several years prior to the dependency proceeding, and there was no evidence that grandmother was openly holding herself out in her community as his mother. The appellate court affirmed the denial of presumed mother status, but found that the juvenile court had abused its discretion in denying grandmother de facto parent status. There was no evidence that grandmother had betrayed or abandoned the parental role, subjected the minor to abuse, or acted in a manner fundamentally inconsistent with the parental role such that she lost the privilege of participation in the proceedings. Grandmother otherwise indisputably qualified for de facto parent status.