In Re Jackson W.

M. Elizabeth Handy, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Minors.

McCONNELL, P. J. —

D.W., mother of dependent children Jackson W. and Trenton W. (together, the minors), appeals a juvenile court order summarily denying her Welfare and Institutions Code [1] section 388 petition for modification by which she sought a hearing on whether she received the effective assistance of counsel at an earlier stage of the proceedings. This appeal raises several issues of first impression: (1) whether a parent who waives the right to have the juvenile court appoint counsel trained in juvenile dependency law in order to retain counsel who does not meet those qualifications can claim privately retained counsel provided ineffective representation; and (2) whether a section 388 petition is the proper mechanism by which to raise a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel. We hold a parent, after proper advisement, may knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily waive the statutory right to be represented by appointed counsel meeting the definition of "competent counsel" under California Rules of Court, [2] rule 5.660(d). Once that right is waived, the parent is precluded from complaining…