Court must find parent unsuitable before granting custody to grandparents

Court News Ohio

The Supreme Court of Ohio today ruled that a Summit County mother’s constitutional rights were violated when a juvenile court awarded custody of her daughter to the child’s paternal grandparents without first finding that she was an unsuitable parent.

In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court reversed a Ninth District Court of Appeals decision granting custody of a girl, identified in court records as “A.S.,” to her grandparents in 2023. The Summit County Juvenile Court’s decision cited, in part, a 2017 declaration that A.S. was a dependent child, and her mother, who at the time struggled with substance use, was an unsuitable parent.

The Court noted the mother, identified as “C.S.,” completed a treatment plan, after which the juvenile court granted custodial rights back to both C.S. and A.S.’s father and closed the case. Returning A.S. to her mother’s custody included a finding that her mother was a suitable parent.

Writing for the Court, Chief Justice Sharon L. Kennedy explained that before the juvenile court could grant legal custody to a nonparent, there must be a finding that the natural parent is unsuitable. The juvenile court “inferred” from the 2017 case that C.S. was unsuitable, instead of making a factual determination based on the evidence presented to the juvenile court in 2023.

“Since it did not make that finding before awarding custody to Grandparents, it violated Mother’s fundamental liberty interest in the custody of her child,” Chief Justice Kennedy wrote.