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Name: In re Albert A.
Case #: E063869
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 4 DCA
Division: 2
Opinion Date: 01/14/2009
Summary

Failure to provide timely writ notice to mother was good cause to consider her claims in appeal from parental rights termination. Minors were dependents of the court and placed with their grandmother. Mother did not attend the six-month review hearing where services to her were terminated and a permanency planning hearing was set. Subsequently, the court terminated mother’s parental rights. On appeal, mother argued that although she did not challenge the order setting the permanency planning hearing by filing an extraordinary writ, there was good cause to consider her claim of error on appeal from the order terminating parental rights, because the juvenile court did not give her notice of her right to file a writ petition. The appellate court agreed. There was no dispute that the juvenile court clerk did not serve mother with writ notice. Notice was mailed to an address the court knew that mother had not resided at for months, and failed to send the notice to the most logical place, i.e., the grandmother’s house. Therefore, the court failed to provide mother with timely notice of her rights, and there was good cause to consider her claims. (Ed. note: In the unpublished portion of the opinion, the court subsequently rejected mother’s claims on the merits.)