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. Sheena Savannah Ann Spoon and Earl Wayne Hitt, Defendants, Of whom Earl Wayne Hitt is the Appellant.

In the interest of minors under the age of eighteen.

Appellate Case No. 2017-002484

Appeal From Pickens County Thomas T. Hodges, Family Court Judge

Unpublished Opinion No. 2018-UP-362 Submitted August 20, 2018 – Filed August 30, 2018

AFFIRMED

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

Julie Mahon Rau, of the South Carolina Department of Social Services, of Pickens, for Respondent.

Steven Luther Alexander, of Alexander Law Firm, LLC, of Pickens, for the Guardian ad Litem.

PER CURIAM: Earl Wayne Hitt appeals from the family court's final order terminating his parental rights to his minor children. See S.C. Code Ann. § 63-7-2570 (Supp. 2017). 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), we find no meritorious issues warrant briefing.

Accordingly, we affirm the family court's ruling and relieve Hitt's counsel.

AFFIRMED.1 LOCKEMY, C.J., and THOMAS and GEATHERS, JJ., concur.

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