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. Mary A. Fortenberry, Carlos Tellez, and David Sprouse, Defendants, Of whom Carlos Tellez is the Appellant.

In the interest of minors under the age of eighteen.

Appellate Case No. 2018-002121

Appeal From Cherokee County Usha J. Bridges, Family Court Judge

Unpublished Opinion No. 2019-UP-131 Submitted March 12, 2019 – Filed April 4, 2019

AFFIRMED

Kimberly Yancey Brooks, of Kimberly Y. Brooks, Attorney at Law, of Greenville; and Carlos Tellez, pro se, both for Appellant.

Travis Shane Greene, of the South Carolina Department of Social Services, of Gaffney, for Respondent.

Harry A. Hancock, of Columbia, for the Guardian ad Litem.

PER CURIAM: Carlos Tellez appeals the family court's final order finding he placed his minor child at a substantial risk of physical abuse and removing his child from his custody. See S.C. Code Ann. § 63-7-1660(E) (2010) (setting forth when a family court may remove a minor child from a parent's custody); S.C. Code Ann. § 63-7-20(6) (Supp. 2018) (defining "'[c]hild abuse or neglect' or 'harm'").

Upon a thorough review of Tellez's pro se response, 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 Tellez's counsel.

AFFIRMED.1 LOCKEMY, C.J., and SHORT and MCDONALD, JJ., concur.

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