SCDSS v. Robbins

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.

Jhante Robbins, Marcus Bess, and Catrina Palmer,
Defendants,

Of whom Jhante Robbins is the Appellant.

In the interests of minors under the age of eighteen.

Appellate Case No. 2023-001392

Appeal From Lexington County
Robert E. Newton, Family Court Judge

Unpublished Opinion No. 2024-UP-042
Submitted January 24, 2024 – Filed February 1, 2024

AFFIRMED

Nancy Carol Fennell, of Irmo, for Appellant.

Amanda Mange Scott, of Ken Allen & Associates, LLC,
of Chapin, as the Guardian ad Litem for Appellant.
Jordan Alexander McWilliams, of South Carolina
Department of Social Services, of Lexington, for
Respondent.

Thomas M. Neal, III, of Law Offices of Thomas M. Neal,
III, of Columbia, as the Guardian ad Litem for the
children.

PER CURIAM: Jhante Robbins appeals the family court's order removing her
minor children from her custody, finding she physically neglected the children and
placed them at substantial risk for abuse, granting Catrina Palmer legal and
physical custody, and allowing the Department of Social Services to forego
reasonable efforts at reunification. See S.C. Code Ann. § 63-7-1660(E) (2010)
(setting forth findings a family court must make when removing children from the
custody of their parents); S.C. Code Ann. § 63-7-1640(C) (Supp. 2023) (setting
forth situations when a family court may authorize DSS to forego reasonable
efforts at family reunification). 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
Robbins's counsel.

AFFIRMED.2

MCDONALD and VINSON, JJ., and LOCKEMY, A.J., 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.