SCDSS v. Joyce Dempsey

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.

Joyce Marie Dempsey, John Eric Dempsey, Becky
McCarty, and Billy McCarty, Defendants,

Of whom Joyce Marie Dempsey is the Appellant.

In the interest of minors under the age of eighteen.

Appellate Case No. 2016-001926

Appeal From Lexington County
Peter R. Nuessle, Family Court Judge

Unpublished Opinion No. 2017-UP-189
Submitted April 20, 2017 – Filed May 2, 2017

AFFIRMED

John Clark Phillips, Jr., of Law Office of John C.
Phillips, Jr., of Columbia, for Appellant.

Scarlet Bell Moore, of Greenville, for Respondent.
Robin Page, of Law Office of Robin Page, LLC, of
Columbia, for the Guardian ad Litem.

PER CURIAM: Joyce Marie Dempsey appeals the family court's final order
removing her minor children pursuant to section 63-7-1660 of the South Carolina
Code (2010 & Supp. 2016). Upon a thorough review of the record and the family
court's findings of facts and conclusions of law pursuant to Ex parte Cauthen, 291
S.C. 465, 354 S.E.2d 381 (1987), we find no meritorious issues that warrant
briefing. See also S.C. Dep't of Soc. Servs. v. Frederick Downer, Sr., S.C. Sup. Ct.
Order dated Feb. 2, 2005 ("[W]e expand the procedure set forth in Cauthen to
situations . . . where an indigent person appeals from an order imposing other
measures short of termination of parental rights, such as removal, based on child
abuse and neglect."). Accordingly, we affirm the family court's ruling and relieve
Dempsey's counsel.

AFFIRMED.1

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

1
We decide this case without oral argument pursuant to Rule 215, SCACR.