In re C.H., Jr.

Summary

The Eighth District Court of Appeals of Ohio affirmed the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court’s judgment terminating the mother’s parental rights and awarding permanent custody of C.H. to the Cuyahoga County Division of Children and Family Services. The court held that the statutory duration-of-custody requirement was satisfied and that permanent custody was in the child’s best interest under R.C. 2151.414(D)(2). The court also upheld the denial of the mother’s request for a continuance.

Holdings

1. The first prong of Ohio's permanent-custody analysis was satisfied because C.H. had been in the temporary custody of a public children-services agency for 12 or more months of a consecutive 22-month period. Only one R.C. 2151.414(B)(1) factor is required.
2. Permanent custody was in C.H.'s best interest under R.C. 2151.414(D)(2), and the juvenile court was required to commit the child to the agency's permanent custody once the statutory conditions were established.
3. The juvenile court's decision to grant permanent custody to CCDCFS was not against the manifest weight of the evidence.
4. The juvenile court did not abuse its discretion by denying Mother's motion for a continuance.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the juvenile court's award of permanent custody to the agency and termination of Mother's parental rights was supported by sufficient clear and convincing evidence and was not against the manifest weight of the evidence.
2. Whether the juvenile court abused its discretion by denying Mother's motion for a continuance based on her unexplained absence from the permanent-custody trial.

Disposition

affirmed