M.V.
Orange County Social Services Agency v. M.V.
Opinion
lead Opinion
Bedsworth, J.
*274 Opinion
M.V. (M.) appeals from a purported order terminating her parental rights to her son Q.D., pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code section 366.26. 1 She contends she was denied due process, because the court did not conduct a contested hearing on the issue of termination. Although M., through her counsel, expressly waived that right, and agreed to submit the matter on the record, she immediately protested when the court announced its decision to terminate parental rights. She argued that her waiver was invalid and unenforceable due to extrinsic mistake—a confusing similarity between the concepts of adoption and foster care in the Vietnamese language which caused her to misunderstand the nature of the hearing.
Because of the uncertainty regarding M.’s waiver, the court ordered the hearing “trailed” to the next day, expressly for the purpose of allowing the parties to do research on how it should proceed. However, when the matter reconvened, the court concluded that the minute order entered at the end of the prior day had constituted a formal order terminating parental rights, and that it had no power to reconsider or modify that order.