In re L.B.

2011 Ohio 4892
Procedural entryThis page is a short order in In re L.B.. Read the opinion of the Court — 2012 Ohio 905
Ohio Court of Appeals·Decided September 26, 2011·No. 10-11-06 10-11-07·Published

Opinion

[Cite as In re L.B., 2011-Ohio-4892.]

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT MERCER COUNTY

IN THE MATTER OF:

L. B., CASE NO. 10-11-06

ALLEGED DEPENDENT CHILD,

[KERMIT BRICKER, APPELLANT/FATHER], OPINION [BELINA BRICKER, APPELLANT/MOTHER].

R. B., CASE NO. 10-11-07

[KERMIT BRICKER, APPELLANT/FATHER], OPINION [BELINA BRICKER, APPELLANT/MOTHER].

Appeals from Mercer County Common Pleas Court Juvenile Division Trial Court Nos. 32009023 and 32009024

Judgments Affirmed

Date of Decision: September 26, 2011 Case Nos. 10-11-06 and 10-11-07

APPEARANCES:

Donna M. Post for Appellants

Andrew J. Hinders for Appellee

Matthew L. Gilmore, Guardian Ad Litem

SHAW, J.

{¶1} Appellants, Kermit Bricker (“Kermit”) and Belina Bricker (“Belina”)

appeal the February 14, 2011 judgments of the Common Pleas Court, Juvenile

Division, of Mercer County, Ohio, granting permanent custody of their two

children, L.B. and R.B., to the Mercer County Department of Job and Family

Services (the “Agency”) and terminating their parental rights to these children.

{¶2} The facts relevant to these appeals are as follows. In January of 2009,

Kermit contacted the Agency because he and Belina, who was pregnant with

twins, L.B. and R.B., at the time, needed financial assistance for food and medical

bills. Through this contact, they began receiving assistance from the local Help

Me Grow program, which provided a service coordinator to help them learn to

take care of a baby. Around the same time, Kermit began counseling with Erin

Seitz at Foundations Behavioral Health Services (“Foundations”).

-2- Case Nos. 10-11-06 and 10-11-07

{¶3} The twins were born in April of 2009. Help Me Grow continued to

provide services to Kermit and Belina, who lived in Mendon, Mercer County,

Ohio, at the time. In addition, the Agency became more involved with the family

and assigned an on-going caseworker, Marge Zwiebel, to work with the couple

and their children. During this time, the Agency also provided additional financial

assistance to the family by helping them pay their utility bills.

{¶4} In early July of 2009, Belina, who suffers from a number of maladies,

was hospitalized and Kermit was left to care for the children on his own. He was

unable to do so, which resulted in the Agency filing complaints in the Common

Pleas Court, Juvenile Division, alleging that the children were dependent. The

children were removed from their parents’ care and placed in the care of the

Agency. On September 10, 2009, the trial court held an adjudicatory hearing,

found that the children were dependent, and proceeded to disposition, whereby it

granted temporary custody of the children to the Agency. The trial court also

adopted the case plan proposed by the Agency.

{¶5} Both parents underwent a parenting evaluation by Dr. Frederick Ferri,

who filed his report with the court on April 30, 2010. On May 10, 2010, the

Agency filed motions for permanent custody of the children. The parents filed

motions to have a second parenting evaluation conducted by a different expert,

which were granted under the condition that the parents provide the name of this

-3- Case Nos. 10-11-06 and 10-11-07

second expert by July 30, 2010. Although the court was willing to pay for a

second evaluation and the parents provided the name of a second expert, this

expert declined the request to conduct a parenting evaluation and the parents did

not provide the trial court with the name of any other expert.

{¶6} In June of 2010, Kermit and Belina moved to Delphos, Ohio, which is

partially located in Van Wert County, Ohio, because they were evicted from their

home in Mendon, Ohio. A few months later, they moved to a different apartment

in Delphos, which was located in the Allen County portion of Delphos.

{¶7} On August 17, 2010, visitation between the children and Kermit and

Belina was suspended due to the concerns of the children’s physician that one or

both of the parents may have had an infection that was compromising the

children’s immune systems. Based on the recommendations of the physician, the

court ordered that the parents be tested for “cryposporidum,” “c-def,” and an

infection that could suppress the immune system and ordered that visitation could

begin again when the children’s physician determined that they were medically

able to resume visitation with their parents. Although the parents testified that

they were tested for all three illnesses, as of the date of the permanent custody

hearing, the Agency had not received the results of the cryposporidum test, and the

parents had not visited with the children since July of 2010.

-4- Case Nos. 10-11-06 and 10-11-07

{¶8} The permanent custody hearing was held on December 6, 2010. Also

on that date, the children’s guardian ad litem (“GAL”) filed his report,

recommending that the Agency be granted permanent custody of the children as

the same was in their best interests. The trial court took the matter under

advisement, and later granted the Agency’s motions for permanent custody and

terminated Kermit and Belina’s parental rights to L.B. and R.B. This appeal

followed, and Kermit and Belina now assert one assignment of error for our

review.

THE TRIAL COURT ABUSED ITS DISCRETION AND ERRED WHEN IT TERMINATED APPELLANTS PARENTAL RIGHTS AND AWARDED PERMANENT CUSTODY TO THE DEPARTMENT OF JOB AND FAMILY SERVICES.

{¶9} As an initial matter, we note that “[i]t is well recognized that the right

to raise a child is an ‘essential’ and ‘basic’ civil right.” In re Franklin, 3rd Dist.

Nos. 9-06-12, 9-06-13, 2006-Ohio-4841, citing In re Hayes (1997), 79 Ohio St.3d

46, 48, 679 N.E.2d 680. The Supreme Court of Ohio has held that a parent “must

be afforded every procedural and substantive protection the law allows.” In re

Hayes, supra, quoting In re Smith (1991), 77 Ohio App.3d 1, 16, 601 N.E.2d 45.

Thus, it is with these constructs in mind that we proceed to determine whether the

trial court erred in granting permanent custody of the children to the Agency.

-5- Case Nos. 10-11-06 and 10-11-07

{¶10} Section 2151.414 of the Revised Code provides, inter alia, that a trial

court

may grant permanent custody of a child to a movant if the court determines at the hearing held pursuant to division (A) of this section, by clear and convincing evidence, that it is in the best interest of the child to grant permanent custody of the child to the agency that filed the motion for permanent custody and that any of the following apply:

(a) The child is not abandoned or orphaned, has not been in the temporary custody of one or more public children services agencies or private child placing agencies for twelve or more months of a consecutive twenty-two-month period, * * * and the child cannot be placed with either of the child’s parents within a reasonable time or should not be placed with the child’s parents.

***

R.C. 2151.414(B)(1)(a) (Emphasis added). The Supreme Court of Ohio has held

that “[c]lear and convincing evidence is that measure or degree of proof which

will produce in the mind of the trier of facts a firm belief or conviction as to the

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