In Re Jessica Z.

Jessica Z., daughter of appellant Irene P., was adjudicated a dependent of the juvenile court under Welfare and Institutions Code section 300, subdivision (b). Appellant has appealed from an order following a 12-month review hearing which continued her daughter in foster care.

The contentions she advances on appeal are these: First, that the juvenile court had a duty, pursuant to section 361.3, to accord preference to Jessica’s relatives at this hearing, and that Jessica should have been placed in the care of her maternal grandmother or aunt instead of having been continued in foster care; and second, that she was afforded ineffective assistance of counsel by her attorney’s failure to urge appellant’s claim for relative placement at this, or at the previous, hearing.

Appellant’s ineffective assistance of counsel claim also forms the basis for a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. We ordered that the petition be considered with the appeal.

While we agree with appellant that section 361.3 was honored here more in the breach than in the observance, we will affirm the trial court’s order for reasons we will explain. As to the writ petition, we conclude appellant has…