State Ex Rel. Juvenile Department v. Geist

Mother appeals from a circuit court order terminating her parental rights. Former ORS 419.523. We allowed review to consider her contention that the Court of Appeals erred in holding that it could not review her claim that her appointed trial counsel was inadequate. We hold that such claims may be reviewed on direct appeal. On de novo review, we find that mother’s counsel was adequate, and we affirm.

FACTS

We take the following facts from the Court of Appeals’ opinion:

“Mother has three children from her marriage to Bill Geist, who has had a severe drug and alcohol problem and has repeatedly…