In re Ja.O.

Summary

The court held that former Welfare and Institutions Code section 224.2 required county welfare departments to ask extended family members and others about a child’s possible Indian ancestry whenever the child was placed in the department’s temporary custody, including after a warrant-based removal. It further held that Assembly Bill 81 clarified rather than changed that existing law, so the current statute applied to this pre-amendment case. The court reversed the Court of Appeal and remanded for compliance with the inquiry requirements.