Rayna R. v. Superior Court of San Mateo Cty.

In 1988 the Legislature established that a petition for an extraordinary writ, not an appeal, is the proper vehicle for immediately challenging a decision to institute proceedings to terminate parental rights made at a juvenile court permanency planning hearing. (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 366.25, subd. (j), added by Stats. 1988, ch. 1075, § 6, p. 3475; see In re Matthew C. (1993) 6 Cal.4th 386, 398-399 [ 24 Cal.Rptr.2d 765 , 862 P.2d 765 ].) Effective January 1, 1993, the Judicial Council approved a form designed to facilitate filing these statutory writ petitions and similar petitions authorized by section 366.26, subdivision (k). The two petitions before us use the form and present important procedural issues not resolved by the Legislature or by prior appellate decisions.

In this opinion, we address confusion existing in superior courts and among trial counsel over appointment of counsel for indigent petitioners and over preparation of the record in these writ proceedings. We consider whether counsel appointed for proceedings in superior court should also be responsible for writ petitions and whether the county is obligated to pay for transcripts required for review by…