Right to counsel
A statute provides counsel for indigent parents at all stages of the proceedings, including at the initial shelter care hearing. See Wash. Rev. Code §§ 13.34.090 [“Rights under chapter proceedings”]; 13.34.062(2)(b) [as to notice of rights]; and 13.34.065(3)(a)(iii) [“Shelter care–Hearing”] (providing that “If the parent, guardian, or custodian is indigent, the court shall appoint counsel as provided in RCW 13.34.090.”). While § 13.34.090 speaks in terms of providing counsel in all stages of a dependency proceeding, the court in In re Welfare of G.E., 65 P.3d 1219 (Wash. Ct. App. 2003), made it clear that this specifically includes termination of parental rights proceedings.
In circumstances where an indigent civil litigant has a statutory right to counsel at all stages of the proceeding (such as for dependency/TPR), that right continues through appeal, including discretionary appeals. In re Grove, 897 P.2d 1252, 1258-1259 (Wash. 1995) (involving appeal of dependency).
