Utah high court hears dispute over due process, counsel and jurisdiction in child-termination appeal

The Utah Supreme Court on Wednesday heard arguments over whether a mother’s due-process rights were violated in juvenile-court proceedings that led to termination of her parental rights, and whether the high court has jurisdiction to review orders from two prior termination proceedings.

Alexander Marshall, counsel for the mother, told the court that “every one of mother’s due process rights were violated in this case,” saying the mother was excused from early hearings while she was abroad in Turkey, was not notified of the shelter hearing that led to removal of the children, and went unrepresented through critical stages until counsel was appointed in February 2021. Marshall asked the court to treat the errors as structural and to reverse the termination back to the point of disposition so the mother could be given an opportunity to reunify.

The argument focused on three overlapping questions: what adverse findings were entered while the mother was out of the country and unrepresented; whether those procedural defects created irreparable prejudice requiring a structural-error remedy; and whether this court has jurisdiction to review orders that originated in an earlier termination proceeding and a later remand and retrial.

Marshall described a sequence in which the mother was excused from a preliminary hearing, later…