Ohio Abandonment court case!

Ohio Foster Peeps: (sorry so long, link wouldn't work) Here is an appealed Ohio court case that is GOOD NEWS because it sets precidence on abandonment! source - [url=http://www.leagle.com]Leagle Home[/url] "IN RE C.C. 2012 Ohio 1291 Court of Appeals of Ohio, Twelfth District, Warren County. March 26, 2012." { 13} On appeal, the father argues that the court erred in determining that it was in the best interest of the children to grant permanent custody of the children to the agency. The mother argues that the court erred in determining that the children were abandoned and in considering whether the children could be placed with their parents in a reasonable time. Abandonment {ֶ 14} The Ohio Revised Code provides that for purposes of Chapter 2151, "a child shall be presumed abandoned when the parents of the child have failed to visit or maintain contact with the child for more than ninety days, regardless of whether the parents resume contact with the child after a period of ninety days." R.C. 2151.011(C). { 15} In this case, the mother argues that the court could not find the children were abandoned because the court itself ordered the visitation to stop. As mentioned above, the parents' visitation was suspended after concerns arose regarding the negative impact the parents' missed visitations were having on the children. The agency moved to suspend visitation because the missed visits were causing emotional distress to the children, the parents were not actively involved in drug treatment, had not started mental health recommendations, and were without stable housing or income. The court granted the motion suspending visitation on February 9, 2011. However, the order stated that the agency was permitted to reinstate visitation at its discretion. {ֶ 16} The mother does not dispute that she has not had any contact with her children since January 2011, but instead argues that the state cannot argue abandonment when the parents were complying with court orders by not visiting the children. She argues it is "unconscionable . . . that the state could terminate contact for ninety days and then claim that they should have custody because the parents have not seen the children." { 17} The trial court found that the parents have not had any contact with the children since January 2011 and that visits were suspended on February 9, 2011, due to the parents' failure to visit regularly. The court also found that more than five months elapsed from the last contact until the permanent custody motion was filed and the parents did nothing to obtain a reinstatement of their visitation in the interim. The court stated that rather than working on reinstating visitation, the parents failed to work on case plan services, used illegal drugs, evaded arrest and spent time incarcerated. Accordingly, the court found that the children were abandoned. {ֶ 18} We find no error in the trial court's determination that the children were abandoned. First, R.C. 2151.011(C) states that abandonment is presumed when parents have "failed to visit or maintain contact with the child for more than ninety days * * *." Although the parents were unable to visit the children because visitations were suspended, there was no testimony that they were in any way prevented from maintaining contact with the children by other means, such as telephone calls, letters or cards." Ohio Foster Families: Stay on drugs + miss a month (six visits?) of visitation + a few other things = removal of your visitation rights by the court. Removal of your visitation rights + no calls or cards to your kids (for a total of 90 days) = ABANDONMENT Am I reading this right? If so, this is good news because GALs & CASAs can site this case in other situations. Rock out :rockband: