Right to counsel
In addition to the subject child, a party to a Child In Need of Assistance (CINA) proceeding (usually the child’s parent or guardian) is “entitled to the assistance of counsel at every stage” of a CINA proceeding. MD. CODE ANN., CTS. & JUD. PROC. § 3-813(a). A public defender shall represent a party, other than the child, who is indigent in all such proceedings. MD. CODE ANN., CRIM. PROC. § 16-204(b)(1)(v); MD. CODE ANN., CTS. & JUD. PROC. § 3-813(b)(1) (2013).
In 2010, the Court of Special Appeals in In re Alijah Q. distinguished statutory rights from constitutional ones in ruling that the strict waiver requirements of Rule 11-106(b) that apply in delinquency matters do not apply to a parent’s waiver of his or her statutory right to counsel in a CINA case. “We are mindful that a statutory right . . . ‘while deserving of protection, is not necessarily the equivalent of a constitutional right.’” 195 Md. App. 491, 519, 7 A.3d 106, 122 (2010) [quoting In re the Welfare of G.L.H., 614 N.W.2d 718, 722 (Minn. 2000)].
