Scott v. Ciba Vision Corp‪.‬

This petition for a writ of mandate was filed by the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (Department) in a dependency matter in the following context. Parental rights had been terminated. Department requested that the minor, who was then living with prospective adoptive parents in Oregon, be returned to the care of his foster mother in Los Angeles pending a decision on permanent placement. The foster mother had cared for the child almost his entire life. She had consistently expressed her interest in adopting him and had consistently received favorable evaluations about her care of him. The trial court denied Departments request. That denial was error. A trial court can only deny such a request if the Department has abused its discretion in making its decision. In this matter, the record fails to demonstrate Departments decision was an abuse of discretion. We therefore grant Department the requested relief.