Right to attorney ad litem

Ark. Code Ann. § 9-27-401 established a Division of Dependency and Neglect Representation, and it refers to “the intent of the General Assembly to provide an appropriate and adequate level of representation to all children in dependency-neglect proceedings as required under federal and state law under § 9-35-208.”

Under state law, children are entitled to an attorney ad litem “when an dependency-neglect petition is filed or when an emergency ex parte order is entered in a dependency-neglect case, whichever occurs earlier.” Ark. Code § 9-35-311(c)(1).  The attorney is responsible for represented the child’s best interest, however, if there is a conflict between the child’s wishes and the attorney’s determination of the child’s best interest, the attorney “shall communicate the juvenile’s wishes to the court in addition to presenting his or her determination of the juvenile’s best interest.” Id. at (c)(5)(A)-(B).

Although an attorney is required regardless of the child or family’s ability to pay, “[t]he court may order financially able juveniles, parents, guardians, or custodians to pay all or part of reasonable attorney’s fees and expenses for representation of a juvenile.” Id. at (a)(2).

Because representation is best interest and not client-directed, we have classified the right to counsel as “qualified.”