California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from Brian R., In re, 2 Cal.App.4th 904, 3 Cal.Rptr.2d 768 (Cal. App. 1991):
Appellant argues both in his writ petition and in his appeal that he has a constitutional due process right to appointed counsel and that he was denied this right by the juvenile court's failure to appoint him counsel during the first 12 months of reunification. He also argues this court should apply Faretta v. California (1975) 422 U.S. 806, 835, 95 S.Ct. 2525, 2541, 45 L.Ed.2d 562 to determine that his waiver of counsel at the jurisdiction and disposition hearing in November 1988 was ineffective, and that his lack of counsel for the ensuing 12 months was inherently prejudicial. We conclude that even assuming, arguendo, the waiver standard enunciated in Faretta for defendants in criminal proceedings applies, on the record before us appellant effectively waived his right to counsel. Having reached this conclusion, we need not decide whether a parent such as appellant has a constitutional due process right to counsel in a dependency proceeding.
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