In a classic “ICWA means what it says” case (that means there is a lot of writing about dictionary definitions of terms in this opinion), the Oklahoma Supreme Court held a court can’t deny an indigent parent appointment of counsel for two years prior to a termination of parental rights filing.
The trial court’s discharge of Mother’s court-appointed counsel left her without legal representation: 1) during her twin daughters’ removal from one relative foster home to another; 2) at all of the court-ordered ISP review/permanency hearings, which the record establishes she regularly attended; 3) during the Post-Adjudication Review Board (PARB) meeting held January 2017, when the Board advised Mother “to obtain legal aid to obtain custody of her children” and “DHS to help her complete this application”;19 and 4) at the August 23, 2017 hearing, during which the trial court approved DHS’ termination of trial reunification. Based on our interpretation of § 1912(b), Mother was required to have court-appointed counsel during the entire foster care placement proceeding.
Turtle Talk 