Topic: Motions for permanent
custody made by the guardian ad litem
19
March 2002
Can a guardian ad litem make a motion
for permanent custody?
Ohio Revised Code section
2151.415(F) states that:
The court, on its own motion
or the motion of the agency or person with legal custody of the child,
the child’s guardian ad litem, or any other party to the action, may
conduct a hearing with notice to all parties to determine whether any
order issued pursuant to this section should be modified or terminated
or whether any other dispositional order set forth in divisions (A)(1)
to (5) of this section should be issued.
Furthermore, within Ohio
Revised Code section 2151.415(A):
A public children services
agency or private child placing agency that has been given temporary
custody of a child…shall file a motion with the court that issued the
order of disposition requesting that any of the following orders of
disposition of the child be issued by the court:…
(4) An order permanently
terminating the parental rights of the child’s parents
In a recent third appellate
district court decision, these two sections were read together to grant
a guardian ad litem the ability to make motions for permanent custody.
The appellate court reasoned that moving the court to terminate parental
rights is interdependent upon a motion for permanent custody; that is,
both termination and placement occur concomitantly. As such, because
both termination of parental rights and permanent custody occur at the
same time, making a motion for permanent custody or termination of
parental rights is identical. Therefore, a guardian ad litem may move
the court for permanent custody with the appropriate agency.
In addition, R.C.
2151.415(F) states that a hearing may be conducted when a guardian ad
litem files a motion pursuant to this section. This hearing on the
motion for one of the dispositional orders is within the discretion of
the court and is not mandatory.
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