SCDSS v. LeRoy Griffin

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.

THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA
In The Court of Appeals

South Carolina Department of Social Services,
Respondent,

v.

Jennifer McCarty, LeRoy Griffin, Josh Downing, and
Tamika Downing, Defendants,

Of whom LeRoy Griffin is the Appellant.

In the interest of minors under the age of eighteen.

Appellate Case No. 2022-000690

Appeal From Horry County
Ronald R. Norton, Family Court Judge

Unpublished Opinion No. 2022-UP-369
Submitted September 21, 2022 – Filed October 3, 2022

AFFIRMED

Harry A. Hancock, of Columbia, for Appellant.

Lesley Ann Sasser, of Law Office of Lesley Ann Sasser,
LLC, of Conway, as the Guardian ad Litem for
Appellant.
Scarlet Bell Moore, of Greenville; and Laura Jo
Bardsley, of South Carolina Department of Social
Services, of Bennettsville, both for Respondent.

Michael Julius Schwartz, of Russell B. Long, PA, of
Myrtle Beach, for the Guardian ad Litem for the
Children.

PER CURIAM: LeRoy Griffin appeals the family court's permanency planning
order that granted custody of his minor children to Josh and Tamika Downing and
closed the case. See S.C. Code Ann. § 63-7-1700 (Supp. 2021). 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),1 we find no
meritorious issues warrant briefing. Accordingly, we affirm the family court's
ruling and relieve Griffin's counsel.

AFFIRMED. 2

GEATHERS, MCDONALD, and HILL, JJ., concur.

1
See also S.C. Dep't of Soc. Servs. v. Downer, S.C. 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").
2
We decide this case without argument pursuant to Rule 215, SCACR.