In Re SB

Welfare and Institutions Code section 366.26 authorizes the juvenile court to find that adoption of a dependent child is probable but difficult, and to order a search for an appropriate adoptive family. (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 366.26, subds. (b)(3), (c)(3).) [1] The Courts of Appeal have divided over whether such orders are appealable. We hold that they are.

In this case, the Court of Appeal dismissed as premature an appeal from orders entered under section 366.26(c)(3). The mother of the affected children asks us to review only the question of appealability. We need not consider the facts to answer this question.

(1) "A judgment in a proceeding under Section 300 may be appealed in the same manner as any final judgment, and any subsequent order may be appealed as an order after judgment." (§ 395, subd. (a)(1); see Sara M. v. Superior Court (2005) 36 Cal.4th 998, 1018 [ 32 Cal.Rptr.3d 89 , 116 P.3d 550 ]; In re Gabriel G. (2005) 134 Cal.App.4th 1428, 1435 [ 36 Cal.Rptr.3d 847 ] ( Gabriel G. ) [citing cases]; In re Ramone R. (2005) 132 Cal.App.4th 1339, 1350 [ 34 Cal.Rptr.3d 344 ] ( Ramone R. ) [citing cases].) As a result of these broad statutory terms, "[j]uvenile…