Rule 5.660.Attorneys for parties (§§ 317, 317.5, 317.6, 353, 366.26, 16010.6)

Every county’s superior court must have local rules on representation in dependency proceedings, developed in consultation with the State Bar, the offices that supply appointed counsel, welfare departments, child advocates, current or recent foster youth, and others the court selects. Those rules cover representation of children, timelines for contested matters, screening, training and appointment of attorneys, minimum standards of experience and education including substance abuse and domestic violence, caseload determination, complaint handling, informing the court of interests needing further action, and appointing a CAPTA guardian ad litem where a criminal prosecution arises from the abuse or neglect.

The court must appoint counsel for an unrepresented child in a section 300 case unless it finds the child would not benefit — and that finding is hard to make. All three things must be true: the child understands the proceedings, can communicate and advocate effectively with the court, counsel, other parties including social workers and other professionals, and would gain no benefit from representation. The court must make a record finding on each of the three and give its reasons — and must then appoint a CASA volunteer as the child’s CAPTA guardian ad litem.

Siblings may share one attorney. The attorney must decline, and the court must appoint separate counsel, where an actual conflict exists at the outset or the circumstances make one reasonably likely. Several things do not by themselves show a conflict: different ages, different parents, a purely theoretical conflict, differing adoptability, or different permanent plans. The duty is continuing — the attorney must keep assessing each sibling’s interests. Once representation is under way, the same list applies with two additions: conflicting wishes, or different and even contradictory accounts, do not amount to a conflict where the issues are not material to the case. A mere likelihood of a future conflict does not require withdrawal.

Where the attorney believes an actual conflict existed or has developed, they must protect the siblings’ interests — notifying the court and asking to withdraw — and the court must relieve them if it agrees. Continuing for some siblings afterwards is possible only on three conditions: successful withdrawal from all conflicting siblings, no confidential information exchanged with any of them, and no other prejudice.

Competent counsel is defined, not assumed: a State Bar member in good standing who has trained in dependency law and shows forensic skill, command of the statutory scheme and its purposes, and knowledge of the writ procedure. Appointment requires eight hours of dependency training or sufficient recent demonstrated experience, and the training must cover dependency law and cases, child development, abuse and neglect, substance abuse, domestic violence, reunification and preservation and reasonable efforts — and, for a child’s attorney, cultural competency and best practices for LGBT youth in out-of-home placement. Eight hours of continuing education is required every three years, and the court may require evidence of competency.

The standards of representation are practical. Attorneys or their agents are expected to meet regularly with clients — children included, whatever their age or verbal ability — contact social workers and other professionals, work to resolve disputes without a contested hearing, and meet the deadlines. A child’s attorney must have enough contact to maintain a real attorney-client relationship, but is not required to take on a social worker’s job or provide services unrelated to the legal representation. Contact information goes to the caregiver within 10 days of receiving their details, and to a child of 10 or older within the same period; younger children may be given it. Once a year the attorney must send contact details to the educational liaison of each local educational agency serving their foster care clients, where the state list is online. Caseloads must stay low enough to do all of this.

Courts must run a complaint process, tell every party how to use it, and act if an appointed attorney has behaved improperly. And where the court appoints a CASA volunteer as CAPTA guardian ad litem instead of an attorney, that volunteer is limited to 10 cases — siblings may count as one, absent a conflict — must not take on an attorney’s responsibilities, and may be appointed alongside an attorney, which courts are encouraged to do as often as possible.

Finally, anyone may tell the court about an interest or right of the child that needs protecting in another forum. If the child’s attorney or CAPTA guardian ad litem learns of one, they must notify the court immediately and ask for instructions. Where action is needed, the court must appoint an attorney if the child has none, and may refer the matter for investigation with a report back, direct the attorney to act, appoint a guardian ad litem, or do anything else that protects the child’s interests.