In re William S.

661 N.E.2d 738, 75 Ohio St. 3d 95
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 4, 1996
DocketNo. 94-2068
StatusPublished
Cited by798 cases

This text of 661 N.E.2d 738 (In re William S.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re William S., 661 N.E.2d 738, 75 Ohio St. 3d 95 (Ohio 1996).

Opinions

Alice Robie Resnick, J.

The issue certified for our review is whether, in a termination of parental rights action, R.C. 2151.414(E) permits a trial court to find that a child cannot be placed with either of his parents within a reasonable time or should not be placed with his parents, absent a determination, by clear and convincing evidence, that one of the eight predicate findings in R.C. 2151.414(E) exists.

Initially we note that in interpreting the statutory provisions pertaining to juvenile court, we must carry out the purposes of the statute as stated in R.C. 2151.01:

“The sections in Chapter 2151. of the Revised Code * * * shall be liberally interpreted and construed so as to effectuate the following purposes:

“(A) To provide for the care, protection, and mental and physical development of children subject to Chapter 2151. of the Revised Code;

“(B) To protect the public interest in removing the consequences of criminal behavior and the taint of criminality from children committing delinquent acts and to substitute therefor a program of supervision, care, and rehabilitation;

“(C) To achieve the foregoing purposes, whenever possible, in a family environment, separating the child from its parents only when necessary for his welfare or in the interests of public safety * * *.”

When a public children services agency flies a motion for permanent custody, R.C. 2151.414(A) directs the court to conduct a hearing. In order to terminate parental rights and grant permanent custody to the agency, R.C. 2151.414(B) requires that:

[98]*98“ * * * the court determine[ ], * * * 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:

“(1) the child is not abandoned or orphaned and the child cannot be placed with either of his parents within a reasonable time or should not be placed with his parents;

“(2) The child is abandoned and the parents cannot be located;

“(3) The child is orphaned and there are no relatives of the child who are able to take permanent custody.”

R.C. 2151.414(E) sets forth guidelines for determining whether a child cannot be placed with either of his parents within a reasonable period of time or should-not be placed with his parents:

“ * * * [T]he court shall consider all relevant evidence. If the court determines, by clear and convincing evidence, * * * that one or more of the following exist as to each of the child’s parents, the court shall enter a finding that the child cannot be placed with either of his parents within a reasonable time or should not be placed with his parents:

“(1) Following the placement of the child outside his home and notwithstanding reasonable case planning and diligent efforts by the agency to assist the parents to remedy the problems that initially caused the child to be placed outside the home, the parent has failed continuously and repeatedly for a period of six months or more to substantially remedy the conditions causing the child to be placed outside his home. In determining whether the parents have substantially remedied those conditions, the court shall consider parental utilization of medical, psychiatric, psychological, and other social and rehabilitative services and material resources that were made available to the parents for the purpose of changing parental conduct to allow them to resume and maintain parental duties[;]

“(2) The severe and chronic mental illness, severe and chronic emotional illness, severe mental retardation, severe physical disability, or chemical dependency of the parent makes the parent unable to provide an adequate permanent home for the child at the present time and in the foreseeable future;

“(3) The parent committed any abuse as described in section 2151.031 of the Revised Code against the child, caused the child to suffer any neglect as described in section 2151.03 of the Revised Code, or allowed the child to suffer any neglect as described in section 2151.03 of the Revised Code between the date that the original complaint alleging abuse or neglect was filed and the date of the filing of the motion for permanent custody;

[99]*99“(4) The parent has demonstrated a lack of commitment toward the child by failing to regularly support, visit, or communicate with the child when able to do so, or by other actions showing an unwillingness to provide an adequate permanent home for the child; .

“(5) The parent is incarcerated for an offense committed against the child or a sibling of the child;

“(6) The parent is incarcerated at the time of the filing of the motion for permanent custody or the dispositional hearing of the child and will not be available to care for the child for at least eighteen months after the filing of the motion for permanent custody or the dispositional hearing;

“(7) The parent is repeatedly incarcerated and the repeated incarceration prevents the parent from providing care for the child;

“(8) The parent for any reason is unwilling to provide food, clothing, shelter, and other basic necessities for the child or to prevent the child from suffering physical, emotional, or sexual abuse or physical, emotional, or mental neglect.”

R.C. 2151.414(E) requires the trial court to find that the child cannot be placed with either of his or her parents within a reasonable time or should not be placed with the parents once the court has determined by clear and convincing evidence that one or more of the eight factors exist. Once the trial court finds from all relevant evidence that one of the eight factors exists, it then must consider whether permanent commitment is in the best interest of the child. R.C. 2151.414(B). Only then may it grant permanent custody of the child to the agency.

By listing eight factors, the General Assembly contemplated the specific parameters which would allow the trial court to permanently terminate parental rights. The statute does not include discretionary language or language that would allow the trial court discretion to consider other factors that would justify terminating parental rights. Appellant asserts that by directing the court to “consider all relevant evidence,” the General Assembly intended that the court have the discretion to consider factors other than the eight specifically enumerated. However, we interpret this cited phrase as simply a direction to the trial court delineating the evidence that it may consider when determining the existence of any one or more of the eight factors. The phrase is not meant to give the trial court unbridled discretion to come up with its own factors that would justify terminating parental rights. If that had been the intention of the General Assembly, it would have concluded R.C. 2151.414(E) by stating, “and any other circumstance.”

In the case at bar, the trial court found by clear and convincing evidence that the children “cannot be placed with any one of their parents within a reasonable [100]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
661 N.E.2d 738, 75 Ohio St. 3d 95, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-william-s-ohio-1996.