In re Tikyra A.

Mother (defendant) was a 17-year-old juvenile who had been adjudicated delinquent and placed on probation. Mother and her two daughters, ages two years and eight months, lived with Mother’s mother (Grandmother), the children’s maternal grandmother, in Norwalk, Ohio. A condition of Mother’s probation was that she not leave Grandmother’s house without Grandmother’s authorization. However, after arguing with Grandmother one day, Mother violated her probation by leaving without authorization. Mother went to Sandusky, taking her eight-month-old daughter but leaving her two-year-old daughter at Grandmother’s home. Before leaving, Mother did not make an agreement with Grandmother to take care of Mother’s children. In Sandusky, Mother was living in a house characterized by drug use. One week after leaving, Mother sent her youngest child back to Grandmother, who cared for both children. Mother was arrested in Sandusky after Grandmother reported to the police that Mother had run away. After Mother’s arrest, the human-services department filed complaints asserting that Mother’s children were dependent. A trial court ruled that the children were dependent and gave Grandmother legal custody. Mother appealed the adjudication of dependency on the ground that the weight of the evidence did not support the determination. A dependent child was defined as one who was homeless, poor, or lacking appropriate care with the condition not caused by the child’s parents or guardian. Mother argued that her children were never homeless or lacking necessities, because they were being cared for by Grandmother at all times. Mother argued that the children did not meet the definition of dependent children. The appellate court found it curious that the dependency complaint, in this case, was not paired with a neglect complaint, which would have been more fitting.