Mother contended that the juvenile court erred by ordering the minor placed in foster care rather than with her maternal grandmother at disposition. The Department recommended against placement with grandmother because she had prior criminal and CPS histories, her failure to reunify with her own daughter, and disbelief that her daughter had been molested, as well as her pattern of relationships with unsafe men, and refused to grant an exemption for grandmother’s prior criminal conviction. The court stated that its independent judgment would not be different from the Department’s conclusion. The appellate court affirmed the placement order. Despite grandmother’s loving and devoted relationship with the minor, the juvenile court did not have the authority to place the minor with her in the face of the Department’s denial of an exemption for her criminal conviction.