JENNIFER v. SUPERIOR COURT
Where juvenile court fails to duly advise party of writ rights, appellate court will treat purported appeal from order terminating reunification services as a petition for writ of mandate. Termination of reunification services was not an abuse of discretion where mother agreed to reunification plan and did not seek to modify it even though she argued in petition that it was poorly designed; mother failed to demonstrate that juvenile court failed to apply clear-and-convincing standard of proof; and evidence showed that mother waited until the week before hearing to enroll in required treatment program, failed to follow through on referrals for services, falsely told caseworker she had not been ordered to participate in drug testing, failed to show up for a scheduled drug test, visited her children sporadically and infrequently, and violated several other provisions of the plan. Juvenile court's failure to wait 60 days after service of Indian Child Welfare Act notices before ruling that ICWA did not apply was harmless where the requisite 60 day period elapsed long before parental rights were terminated, and there was no indication that ICWA applied.
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