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Welf. & Inst. Code, § 353 · Article 9. Dependent Children—Hearings

Welf. & Inst. Code, § 353

Verbatim from the official edition

Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)

At the beginning of the hearing on a petition filed pursuant to Article 8 (commencing with Section 325) of this chapter, the judge or clerk shall first read the petition to those present. Upon request of any parent, guardian, or adult relative, counsel for the minor, or the minor, if he or she is present, the judge shall explain any term of allegation contained therein and the nature of the hearing, its procedures, and possible consequences. The judge shall ascertain whether the parent, guardian, or adult relative and, when required by Section 317, the minor have been informed of their right to be represented by counsel, and if not, the judge shall advise those persons, if present, of the right to have counsel present and where applicable, of the right to appointed counsel. If such a person is unable to afford counsel and desires to be represented by counsel, the court shall appoint counsel in accordance with Section 317. The court shall continue the hearing for not to exceed seven days, as necessary to make an appointment of counsel, or to enable counsel to acquaint himself or herself with the case, or to determine whether the parent or guardian or adult relative is unable to afford counsel at his or her own expense, and shall continue the hearing as necessary to provide reasonable opportunity for the minor and the parent or guardian or adult relative to prepare for the hearing.

Notes and commentary — not statutory text

History

Amended by Stats. 1989, Ch. 913, Sec. 7.

Source of truth

Edition
As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
Official file
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=WIC&sectionNum=353.
Text hash
sha256 e5f58989a463d8acd80a86b497b26cbceb0304b7ea8c6f14a70fa6f0fa777ca2
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compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section

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