In re D.L.

Summary

The Fifth District Court of Appeals of Ohio affirmed the Richland County Juvenile Court’s decision granting Richland County Children Services permanent custody of two children and terminating the mother’s parental rights. The court held that the statutory grounds for permanent custody were supported by clear and convincing evidence, including the mother’s failure to remedy conditions leading to removal and, as to one child, the twelve-of-twenty-two-month provision. The court also upheld the juvenile court’s determination that permanent custody was in the children’s best interests.

Holdings

1. The juvenile court correctly found that Child 2 had been in Richland County Children Services' temporary custody for more than twelve months of a consecutive twenty-two-month period when the permanent-custody motion was filed. That finding, combined with the best-interest determination, independently supported the permanent-custody award as to Child 2.
2. The juvenile court's determination that the children could not be placed with Mother within a reasonable time or should not be placed with her was supported by clear and convincing evidence and was not against the sufficiency or manifest weight of the evidence.
3. The juvenile court's determination that permanent custody to Richland County Children Services was in the children's best interests was supported by competent, credible evidence and was not against the manifest weight or sufficiency of the evidence.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the juvenile court's findings under R.C. 2151.414(B)(1), including the twelve-of-twenty-two-month ground for Child 2 and the inability to place either child with Mother within a reasonable time, were supported by sufficient evidence and were not against the manifest weight of the evidence.
2. Whether awarding permanent custody of the children to Richland County Children Services was in the children's best interests under R.C. 2151.414(D).

Disposition

affirmed