In re E.E.

Summary

The Fifth District Court of Appeals of Ohio affirmed the Guernsey County Juvenile Court's judgment terminating the mother's parental rights and granting permanent custody of the child to Guernsey County Children Services. The court held that the child had been in agency custody for at least twelve of twenty-two consecutive months and that clear and convincing evidence supported the finding that permanent custody was in the child's best interest.

Holdings

1. The child's placement in the temporary custody of a public children-services agency for twelve or more months of a consecutive twenty-two-month period satisfied the first prong of the permanent-custody analysis.
2. The juvenile court's determination that permanent custody to Guernsey County Children Services was in the child's best interest was supported by sufficient clear and convincing evidence.
3. The juvenile court did not clearly lose its way or create a manifest miscarriage of justice in terminating the mother's parental rights and granting permanent custody to the agency.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the juvenile court's finding that permanent custody was in the child's best interest was supported by clear and convincing evidence.
2. Whether the juvenile court's best-interest determination and grant of permanent custody were against the manifest weight of the evidence.

Disposition

affirmed