In re D.G

2021 Ohio 429
Ohio Court of Appeals·Decided February 17, 2021·No. C-200359, C-200371·Published·Cited by 5 cases

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS

FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT OF OHIO HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO

IN RE: D.G. : APPEAL NOS. C-200359 C-200371

: TRIAL NO. F18-117X

:

O P I N I O N.

:

Appeal From: Hamilton County Juvenile Court Judgment Appealed From Is: Affirmed Date of Judgment Entry on Appeal: February 17, 2021

Joseph T. Deters, Hamilton County Prosecuting Attorney, Jennifer Weigel, and Gretta Herberth, Assistant Prosecuting Attorneys, for Appellee Hamilton County Department of Job and Family Services,

Raymond T. Faller, Hamilton County Public Defender, and Roxanna Mehdi, Assistant Public Defender, for Guardian ad Litem for D.G.,

Treleven and Klingensmith Law LLC, Celia Klug Weingartner, for Guardian ad Litem for Appellant Mother,

Christopher Kapsal, for Appellant Mother.

BERGERON, Judge.

{¶1} In this parental termination case, we must evaluate the weight and sufficiency of the evidence underlying the trial court’s grant of permanent custody to the Hamilton County Department of Job and Family Services (“HCJFS”), as well as the applicability of R.C. 2151.35(B)(1) when all parties expressly waive the 90 day dispositional deadline. Because we find the trial court’s decision supported by both the weight and sufficiency of the evidence, and we conclude that parents may explicitly waive the dispositional deadline, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

I.

{¶2} This case arose out of an incident in January 2018, when Mother placed a 911 call that escalated into her involuntary hospitalization for psychiatric care. On the same day as Mother’s hospitalization, HCJFS secured an ex parte emergency placement order for D.G. (Mother’s only child), acting with haste because D.G.’s school had already alerted it to potential concerns with Mother. Mother remained in psychiatric care for approximately two weeks, receiving a diagnosis of “unspecified psychosis.”

{¶3} A few months later, D.G. was adjudicated dependent. Between adjudication and disposition, the magistrate convened a series of six hearings, entertaining testimony from ten witnesses. Mother’s reunification plan, forged at the beginning of these hearings, called for individual therapy for Mother, medication management, family therapy, visitation, and maintenance of stable housing and income.

{¶4} Mother’s mental health, however, overshadowed everything else at the hearings. In addition to her diagnosis at the hospital of “unspecified psychosis,” Mother was evaluated through the Family Access to Integrated Recovery (“FAIR”)

program, which diagnosed her as suffering from “delusional disorder.” Multiple witnesses corroborated this diagnosis, chronicling delusional episodes by Mother over the course of several years. The principal of D.G.’s school, for example, testified that Mother regularly sent mass emails to school staff, other parents, and grandparents admonishing that she “was being harassed or followed by or videotaped” by unknown stalkers. The sheer number of emails, along with their content, caused the principal to meet with Mother one-on-one to evaluate whether she posed a risk of self-harm. A friend of Mother’s, with whom Mother and D.G. were living prior to Mother’s hospitalization, echoed that Mother believed “people were following her, people were trying to hurt her.” Similarly, the HCJFS caseworker testified that more than a year after D.G.’s removal, Mother still believed “they are following her, they are tape recording her,” but would not elucidate “who ‘they’ are.”

{¶5} Although Mother completed a substantial amount of therapy during disposition, she resisted the contention that she had any mental health problems, concluding that therapy was superfluous but for the court’s insistence that she complete it. Mother portrayed D.G.’s removal as a result of “false allegations” against her and suspected that her diagnosis had been fabricated for insurance purposes. She declined to take medication for mental health management at any point during the relevant time period.

{¶6} In 2019, the magistrate approved D.G.’s move from foster care in Cincinnati to live with his maternal grandparents in South Carolina—with whom Mother has a very strained relationship. Nevertheless, Mother continued to visit D.G. in South Carolina for six hours every other weekend. By January 2020, HCJFS filed a motion to modify temporary custody to permanent custody, which the magistrate granted. Mother and Mother’s Guardian ad Litem (“GAL”) timely

objected to the trial court, which nonetheless adopted the magistrate’s decision. Mother and her GAL now appeal, asserting two total assignments of error.

II.

{¶7} In her first assignment of error, Mother challenges the juvenile court’s award of permanent custody on sufficiency and manifest-weight grounds. Mother’s GAL joins in the manifest-weight challenge, but not the sufficiency challenge. For ease of reading, we will address Mother’s sufficiency challenge first.

{¶8} When reviewing a grant of permanent custody, we conduct an independent review to consider whether sufficient evidence supported the clear-and- convincing standard. In re J.W., 1st Dist. Hamilton No. C-190189, 2019-Ohio-2730 ¶ 13 (“Reviewing a juvenile court’s grant of a motion for permanent custody requires us to independently find that the decision is supported by clear and convincing evidence.”), citing In re W.W., 1st Dist. Hamilton Nos. C-110363 and C-110402, 2011- Ohio-4912, ¶ 46. We will accept the trial court’s factual determinations if they are underpinned by “some competent and credible evidence.” In re W.W. at ¶ 46. Nonetheless, “whether the evidence is sufficient to sustain the judgment is a question of law,” which we review de novo. In re A.B., 1st Dist. Hamilton Nos. C-150307 and C-150310, 2015-Ohio-3247, ¶ 15, citing Eastley v. Volkman, 132 Ohio St.3d 328, 2012-Ohio-2179, 972 N.E.2d 517, ¶ 11.

{¶9} Following an adjudication of dependency, R.C. 2151.413(A) permits a court to award permanent custody to an agency upon satisfaction of a two-prong test. In re S.G., 1st Dist. Hamilton No. C-200261, 2020-Ohio-5244, ¶ 31; In re F.B., 1st Dist. Hamilton No. C-200320, 2020-Ohio-5610, ¶ 16. The court may grant permanent custody if it finds, by clear and convincing evidence: (1) that one of the conditions in R.C. 2151.414 (B)(1)(a) through (e) is satisfied; and (2) that a grant of

permanent custody is in the child’s best interest, pursuant to the factors listed in subsection (D)(1). See R.C. 2151.414(B)(1) and (D)(1); In re F.B. at ¶ 18. “In conducting the best-interest analysis ‘no single factor is given greater weight or heightened significance.’ ” Id. at ¶ 19, quoting In re P., 1st Dist. Hamilton Nos. C- 190309 and C-190310, 2019-Ohio-3637, ¶ 35.

{¶10} The parties agree that R.C. 2151.414(B)(1)(d)—the child has been in the temporary custody of an agency for 12 or more months of a consecutive 22 month period—applies to D.G.. The first prong of our two-prong test is therefore satisfied, and Mother’s sufficiency challenge turns entirely on the adequacy of the trial court’s best interest analysis.

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