In re R.M., R.H.

Summary

The Ohio Sixth District Court of Appeals affirmed judgments involving the removal of two children from their mother’s care, adjudication of the children as dependent, and supervised visitation. The court held that the trial court had sufficient grounds and information to issue the shelter-care orders and that the mother’s failure to seek a shelter-care rehearing limited her challenge. The appeal also addressed whether the dependency adjudication and dispositional order were supported by the evidence.

Holdings

1. The juvenile court did not err in removing the children from mother's care after the shelter-care hearing. The agency's complaints, investigation, mother's overdose and hospitalization while the children were in the house, and mother's refusal to cooperate supplied evidence of an emergency, reasonable grounds for removal, and reasonable efforts to assess and assist the family.
2. The agency proved by clear and convincing evidence that the children's condition or environment warranted state intervention under R.C. 2151.04(C). The adjudication was supported by competent, credible evidence and was not against the manifest weight of the evidence.
3. The juvenile court did not abuse its discretion by continuing mother's supervised visitation and the children's temporary custody placements. The restriction was supported by the children's best interests and the risk associated with mother's suspected overdose, refusal to acknowledge substance-use concerns, and the circumstances in which the children were present.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the juvenile court properly removed the children from mother's care and placed them in shelter care under R.C. 2151.31 and R.C. 2151.314.
2. Whether clear and convincing evidence supported adjudicating the children dependent under R.C. 2151.04(C), and whether that adjudication was against the manifest weight of the evidence.
3. Whether the juvenile court abused its discretion by continuing temporary custody placements and restricting mother's visitation to supervised contact.

Disposition

affirmed