In re M.W.

Citations

• 2024 Ohio 5328

Syllabus

Permanent custody; legal custody; best interest of the child. Neither permanent custody nor legal custody was supported by the manifest weight of the evidence. Mother had five children removed from the home because of educational neglect and housing issues. Three of the children were placed in the same foster home. One of the children was placed with a family member, and the fifth child was placed in a foster home on his own. Mother obtained housing and completed case plan objectives such that the agency returned the three oldest children to her care. Additionally, she gave birth to two additional children during the pendency of the case, and the agency did not establish grounds to intervene in Mother's custody. Nevertheless, the agency sought legal custody to a family member for one of the remaining children and permanent custody to the agency for the other, in part due to Mother's failure to consistently visit those two children. However, the record reflected that Mother had visited with both children, though not consistently. There was insufficient evidence to support the findings for permanent and legal custody.