The father’s general appearance at the detention hearing waived any issue regarding service pursuant to Hague Convention requirements. Kern County petitioned for a writ of mandate after the juvenile court refused to find proper notice on a supplemental petition. The juvenile court believed that the department had to serve the father, who was living in Mexico, pursuant to the Hague Convention. The appellate court granted the petition, concluding that the Hague Service Convention does not apply to supplemental and subsequent juvenile dependency proceedings. Further, even assuming that the Hague Convention applied to subsequent proceedings, any duty to serve notice under the Hague Convention was discharged in this case by the father’s general appearance in the juvenile court at the detention hearing.
Case Summaries