Los Angeles County Department of Children & Family Services v. Sara W.

This appeal is from dependency proceedings under the Welfare and Institutions Code. 1 Sara W. appeals from an order appointing the foster parents of her minor son, Kevin S., as his legal guardians. *885 (§ 366.26.) She argues the court erred in referring this case to a section 366.26 hearing after finding, at a combined 12- and 18-month review hearing, reasonable efforts to reunite her with the minor had not been made. We find the issue has been waived. Accordingly, we affirm.

Preliminarily, we must address appealability. The department of children and family services (DCFS) contends the order terminating reunification services is not cognizable on appeal from an order pursuant to section 366.26. The DCFS cites section 366.26, subdivision (l)( 1), which provides an order setting a section 366.26 hearing is not appealable unless a timely writ petition has been filed and not decided on the merits. However, section 366.26, subdivision (Z)(l) does not apply to cases in which the order setting a section 366.26 hearing was issued prior to January 1, 1995. (§ 366.26, subd. (I)(5).) The order setting the section 366.26 hearing in the present case was issued on March 7, 1994.…