In re C.M.

Larry M. and Sonia M. (defendants) were the parents of two minor children. The state filed an ex parte petition accusing Larry and Sonia of neglect through failure to provide a safe, clean home, lack of proper supervision, and exposure to domestic violence. The state was granted custody of the children. At the preliminary hearing, the adjudicatory hearing, and the dispositional hearing, Larry and Sonia, who were indigent, were each represented by court-appointed counsel. At the dispositional hearing, the court permitted the children to remain in state custody and ordered Larry and Sonia to take certain steps before their children could be returned. Larry and Sonia appealed to the superior court. Before the next hearing could be held, the New Hampshire legislature amended a statute, abolishing what had previously been an indigent parent’s statutory right to an attorney, if the parent was accused of abuse or neglect. However, Larry and Sonia both filed motions to keep their court-appointed attorneys, arguing that this was constitutionally required under both the state constitution and the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The New Hampshire constitution provided that all men had natural and inherent rights, which included parenting, and no one was to be deprived of rights and privileges without due process. The Fourteenth Amendment protected a parent’s right to care for and have custody of the parent’s child. Upon an allegation of neglect, the law required numerous procedures and hearings allowing parents the chance to call witnesses, offer evidence, cross-examine the state’s witnesses, and so forth. The trial court transferred the question of whether due process required that an attorney be appointed for an indigent parent at every abuse and neglect proceeding.