C.B.S. v. J.S.D.

On Certification from the Utah Court of Appeals

Chief Justice Durrant,

opinion of the Court:

Introduction

¶1 A mother whose parental rights to her daughter were terminated challenges on multiple constitutional grounds the statutory scheme that provides appointed counsel for indigent parents in state-initiated parental termination proceedings while denying such counsel for indigent parents in privately initiated proceedings. C.B.S. (Mother), after having her parental rights terminated in a proceeding where she was unrepresented by counsel, argues that the statutory scheme at issue is…