Conti v. Shriner

30 Ohio Law. Abs. 193, 1939 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 1059
Ohio Court of Appeals·Decided April 22, 1939·No. No. 1397·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

OPINION

BY THE COURT:

Anna Conti is the mother of John Conti a child born to her out of lawful wedlock on the 25th of December, 1924, at Cleveland, Ohio. At that time the mother of the child was known as Anna C. Greenwald.

On the 23rd of July, 1925, an affidavit charging that the child was a dependent child, was filed in the Juvenile Court of Cuyahoga County. Service of notice was had upon Anna C. Greenwald, of the dependency proceeding, and on the 29th of July, 1925, a hearing thereof -was .had before Judge Weygandt sitting by appointment as Judge of the Juvenile Court. The mother Anna C. Greenwald was present in court at the hearing and the child was adjudged a dependent child and committed to the temporary care and custody of The Cleveland Humane Society and remained in the care of the society under this order until a subsequent hearing was had in this matter on December 30, 1925, at which hearing the original order of commitment was modified in such a manner that the child was committed to the permanent care and custody of The Cleveland Humane Society to be given out for adoption or to be found a permanent home.

According to the records of the Juvenile Court of Cuyahoga County notice of this hearing by personal service was made upon Anna C. Greenwald. However, the mother, upon the hearing in the present case, denied that such service was ever-had upon her.

Subsequent to this heai’ing in the Juvenile Court of Cuyahoga County the child was placed in the home of Glenn Shriner and Ruth Shriner who had filed a petition in the Probate Court of Crawford. County praying for an order permitting them to adopt said minor child as their own child.

The executive secretary of The Cleveland Humane Society, Mr. James E. Ewers, appeared in behalf of The Cleveland Humane Society executed an answer and consent upon a form furnished by the -Division of Charities, State Department of Welfare, and the same was filed in- the Probate Court of Crawford County. Upon hearing being had! upon the petition, answer and consent, the Probate Court granted the petition and made the order in adoption.'

Anna Conti, the appellant in this proceeding, formerly known as Anna C. Greenwald", filed her petition in the Probate Court against Glenn Shriner and Ruth Shriner the adopting parents, appellees herein, to set aside the order of adoption in the Probate Court of Crawford -County, on the following grounds:

1. That she had-no notice of the proceedings in which her child was taken from her.

2. The. humane society is not in law [195]*195a proper guardian for permanent custody.

3. The Juvenile Court of Cuyahoga County retained jurisdiction of the case and the Probate Court of Crawford County had no jurisdiction over John Conti, a minor.

4. Consent was not in proper form.

5. Anna Conti had no notice of the adoption proceedings.

The Probate Court on the hearing of said petition found against Anna Conti, the appellant, and dismissed said petition, and it is from this judgment of the Probate Court this appeal is taken on questions of law.

The appellant assigns a number of errors but in his brief argues only one, and, under the statute this will be the only one considered. The assignment referred to is that the judgment is contrary to law.

Both by the record of the proceedings in the Juvenile Court and by the testimony of the appellant in this case before the Probate Court, it is conclusively established that on July 2, 1925, an affidavit was filed in the Juvenile Court of Cuyahoga County charging that the child Johonnes Conti was a dependent ■child; that a citation was thereupon issued tor Anna C. Greenwald, which was served upon her by leaving a true ■copy thereof at her usual place of residence, and that at the hearing before Hon. C. V. Weygandt, sitting by assignment in the Juvenile Court, the mother appeared in court in response to that citation and was present when the court adjudged the child to be a dependent child and committed him to the temporary care and custody of The Cleveland Humane Society.

Authority for this, action appears in §1653, GC, reading as follows:

“When a minor under the age of eighteen years, or any ward of the court under this chapter, is found to be dependent or neglected, the judge may make an order committing such child to the care of the children’s home if there be one in the county where such court is held, if not, to such a home in another county, if willing to receive such child, for which the county commissioners of the county in which, it has a settlement, shall pay reasonable board; or he may commit such child to the board of state charities or to some suitable state or county institution, or to the care of some reputable citizen of good moral character, or to the care of some training school or an industrial school, as provided by law, or to the care of some association willing to receive it, which embraces within its objects the purposes of caring for or obtaining homes for dependent, neglected or delinquent children or any of them, and which has been approved by the board of state charities as provided by law. When the health or condition of the child shall require it, the judge may cause the child to be placed^ in a public hospital or institution for treatment or special care, or in a private hospital or Institution which will receive it' for like purposes without charge. The court may make an examination regarding the income of the parents or guardian of a minor committed as provided by this section and may' then order that such parent or guardian pay the institution or board to which the minor has been committed reasonable board for such minor, which order, if disobeyed, may be enforced by attachment as for contempt. The probate court shall have power to enter up judgment for the money due, and to enforce such judgment by execution.”

The records of the Juvenile Court of Cuyahoga County further show that on December 30, 1925, a subsequent order of the Juvenile Court was made committing this child to the permanent care and custody of The Cleveland Humane Society, to be given out for adoption or to be found a permanent home.

The journal entry on this date shows that personal service of the citation was duly had upon said mother, and the original citation together with the return thereon appears in the certified transcript of the proceedings which were admitted in evidence in the trial court.

[196]*196The appellant now states that the return made by A. L. Bricker, probation officer of the Summit County Juvenile Court to whom the citation was sent and who made the return, is false and that she was never served with this notice.

This was the first time that any attack had been made upon the record in any court. However, if the testimony of appellant is true and the return so made and so certified was false, the Juvenile Court had full power and authority to enter the order of December 30, 1925, without service of a citation- upon her, she having been served with notice and having been present in court when the child -was adjudged to be a dependent child and was made a ward of the court on the 29th of July, 1925.

Sec. 1643, GC, provides:

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Conti v. Shriner, 30 Ohio Law. Abs. 193, 1939 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 1059 (Ohio Ct. App. 1939).

30 Ohio Law. Abs. 193 (Conti v. Shriner) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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