The juvenile court summarily denied appellant’s request for a hearing to contest the long-term placement of her son as well as visitation at a status review hearing pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code section 366.3. The appellate court reversed that order and remanded with directions to afford her the contested hearing. Unless parental rights have been permanently terminated, the parents of the child are entitled to participate in review hearings. Further, given the failure to allow appellant to have a contested hearing on review, the order summarily denying her section 388 petition was suspect as well. Therefore, since remand was required for a contested review hearing, the summary denial of the 388 petition was also set aside.
Case Summaries