San Mateo County Department of Social Services v. Joe P.

Opinion

KING, J. In this case, because due process requires that parents be afforded notice and an opportunity to be heard at a jurisdictional hearing in juvenile court dependency proceedings, we hold it is reversible error to fail to continue the hearing where counsel for an out-of-state parent was appointed by the court two days prior to the hearing and, despite reasonable efforts, had been unable to make contact with his client, since this prevented counsel from acquainting himself with the case and conferring with his client in order to prepare for the hearing. It is reversible error even in the absence of a request by counsel for a continuance, where counsel was clearly without authority to act on his client’s behalf at the jurisdictional hearing.

Joe P. appeals from an order declaring his child C. P. a dependent child of the court (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 300) and from a subsequent disposition order. We reverse the jurisdictional order and remand the cause for a new jurisdictional hearing.

[272]A petition filed under Welfare and Institutions Code section 300 alleged that on September 1, 1983, C.’s mother, Marcia D., was found lying on a sidewalk bleeding from a self-inflicted wound extending from her right wrist to her elbow. Marcia had left C., aged two, unattended during the suicide attempt. She had also exposed C. to a previous suicide attempt. Marcia required psychiatric hospitalization. The petition alleged that C.’s father, Joe, had failed to maintain a relationship with her or provide for her basic needs.

A subsequent recommendation for an order of detention indicated Marcia had lived with Joe for two years, that they had separated when C. was six months old, and that Joe had last seen C. in August 1982. The recommendation also stated the social services department had attempted unsuccessfully to contact Joe by telephone at his place of employment in New Mexico, and that Joe had been notified by telegram of the pending hearing on the department’s recommendation for detention.

Joe did not appear at the detention hearing held September 6, 1983. The court detained C. and set a jurisdictional hearing for September 28, 1983. Notice of the hearing was mailed to Joe at a post office box in Mentmore, New Mexico.

Joe also did not appear at the jurisdictional hearing. Appointed counsel for Joe did appear, but stated, “I was assigned the case the day before yesterday. The father is not here. He presently resides in New Mexico. I have been unable to contact him by phone, and since I just received the social studies report this afternoon right before court, I have not discussed that with him at all. [f] I have no authority to act or not act on his behalf.” However, when the court asked counsel what he wished to do, counsel said the court had authority to sustain the petition as uncontested, and asked that “the matter be continued for disposition. My understanding is his request for representation was based on the request that his desire might be to place or the possibility for placement of the minor.” A social services department report prepared for the jurisdictional hearing indicated Joe wished to provide a home for C.