Opinion
2024-UP-042 Appellate Case 2023-001392
02-01-2024
South Carolina Department of Social Services, Respondent, v. Jhante Robbins, Marcus Bess, and Catrina Palmer, Defendants, Of whom Jhante Robbins is the Appellant. In the interests of minors under the age of eighteen.
Nancy Carol Fennell, of Irmo, for Appellant. Amanda Mange Scott, of Ken Allen & Associates, LLC, of Chapin, as the Guardian ad Litem for Appellant. Jordan Alexander McWilliams, of South Carolina Department of Social Services, of Lexington, for Respondent. Thomas M. Neal, III, of Law Offices of Thomas M. Neal, III, of Columbia, as the Guardian ad Litem for the children.
THIS OPINION HAS NO PRECEDENTIAL VALUE. IT SHOULD NOT BE CITED OR RELIED ON AS PRECEDENT IN ANY PROCEEDING EXCEPT AS PROVIDED BY RULE 268(d)(2), SCACR.
Submitted January 24, 2024
Appeal From Lexington County Robert E. Newton, Family Court Judge
Nancy Carol Fennell, of Irmo, for Appellant.
Amanda Mange Scott, of Ken Allen & Associates, LLC, of Chapin, as the Guardian ad Litem for Appellant.
Jordan Alexander McWilliams, of South Carolina Department of Social Services, of Lexington, for Respondent.
Thomas M. Neal, III, of Law Offices of Thomas M. Neal, III, of Columbia, as the Guardian ad Litem for the children.
PER CURIAM
Jhante Robbins appeals the family court's order removing her minor children from her custody, finding she physically neglected the children and placed them at substantial risk for abuse, granting Catrina Palmer legal and physical custody, and allowing the Department of Social Services to forego reasonable efforts at reunification. See S.C. Code Ann. § 63-7-1660(E) (2010) (setting forth findings a family court must make when removing children from the custody of their parents); S.C. Code Ann. § 63-7-1640(C) (Supp. 2023) (setting forth situations when a family court may authorize DSS to forego reasonable efforts at family reunification). Upon a thorough review of the record and the family court's findings of fact and conclusions of law pursuant to Ex parte Cauthen, 291 S.C. 465, 354 S.E.2d 381 (1987), we find no meritorious issues warrant briefing. Accordingly, we affirm the family court's ruling and relieve Robbins's counsel.
See also S.C. Dep't of Soc. Servs. v. Downer, SC Sup. Ct. Order dated Feb. 2, 2005 (expanding the Cauthen procedure to situations when "an indigent person appeals from an order imposing other measures short of termination of parental rights").
We decide this case without argument pursuant to Rule 215, SCACR.
MCDONALD and VINSON, JJ., and LOCKEMY, A.J., concur.