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Name: In re Karla C.
Case #: D042048
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 4 DCA
Division: 1
Opinion Date: 11/10/2003
Subsequent History: None
Summary

In this dependency proceeding, the evidence showed that the Department of Human Services Agency sent some type of notice to the Indian tribe in question, but there was no evidence of the notice’s contents because the Agency did not file a copy with the court. Here, the appellate court “joined the weight of authority in holding that the ICWA notice must be filed with the court,” disagreeing with the Third District’s conclusion in In re L.B. Further, the error cannot be deemed harmless because there was no suggestion in the record that the notice sent to the tribe contained the required information, and therefore reversal and remand was required. Further, the court rejected appellant’s contention that the trial court erred when it denied him a continuance pending the results of his paternity testing. The results of the paternity testing would not be available until well past the 60-day limit for the disposition hearing, due to appellant’s failure to show up for earlier testing, and therefore there was no abuse of discretion.