SCDSS v. Barnette

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.

John Barnette, Shatima Barnette, Bernard Allen, Jr., and
Meagan Allen, Defendants,

Of whom John Barnette is the Appellant.

In the interest of minors under the age of eighteen.

Appellate Case No. 2018-001940

Appeal From Spartanburg County
James F. Fraley, Jr., Family Court Judge

Unpublished Opinion No. 2020-UP-078
Submitted March 11, 2020 – Filed March 18, 2020

AFFIRMED

John Brandt Rucker and Allyson Sue Rucker, both of
The Rucker Law Firm, LLC, of Greenville, for
Appellant.

Robert C. Rhoden, III, of the South Carolina Department
of Social Services, of Spartanburg, for Respondent.
Jacqueline Alicia Moss, of the Law Firm of Jacqueline
Moss, of Spartanburg, for the Guardian ad Litem.

PER CURIAM: John Barnette appeals the family court's final order finding he
harmed his minor children and removing them from his custody. See S.C. Code
Ann. § 63-7-1660(E) (2010). 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), and South Carolina Department of Social
Services v. Dawner, S.C. Sup. Ct. Order dated Feb. 2, 2005,1 we find no
meritorious issues warrant briefing. Accordingly, we affirm the family court's
ruling and relieve Barnette's counsel.

AFFIRMED.2

WILLIAMS, KONDUROS, and HILL, JJ., concur.

1
Expanding the Cauthen procedure to situations in which an indigent person
appeals an order imposing measures short of termination of parental rights, such as
removal based on child abuse and neglect.
2
We decide this case without oral argument pursuant to Rule 215, SCACR.