In re S.N.

mother of minor S.N., appeals from the juvenile court’s orders taking jurisdiction and later terminating jurisdiction after awarding custody to father at disposition. She contends the court failed to obtain a valid waiver of her right to a contested jurisdictional hearing. Mother further contends that trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance of counsel at the jurisdictional hearing.

In the published portion of our opinion, we conclude the court failed to obtain a valid waiver. Because we find the juvenile court’s error harmless beyond a reasonable doubt, we shall affirm the juvenile court’s orders.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In September 2015, the Trinity County Department of Health and Human Services (Department) filed a juvenile dependency petition (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 300) as to then eight-year-old S.N. The petition alleged that mother “failed to protect [S.N.] in that she drove under the influence of alcohol with [S.N.] in the vehicle, resulting in a single car collision into the embankment, causing [S.N.] to suffer serious physical and emotional harm.” The petition further alleged that mother “failed to provide [S.N.] with adequate medical care in…