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. Jennifer McCarty, LeRoy Griffin, Josh Downing, and Tamika Downing, Defendants, Of whom LeRoy Griffin is the Appellant.

In the interest of minors under the age of eighteen.

Appellate Case No. 2022-000690

Appeal From Horry County Ronald R. Norton, Family Court Judge

Unpublished Opinion No. 2022-UP-369 Submitted September 21, 2022 – Filed October 3, 2022

AFFIRMED

Harry A. Hancock, of Columbia, for Appellant.

Lesley Ann Sasser, of Law Office of Lesley Ann Sasser, LLC, of Conway, as the Guardian ad Litem for Appellant.

Scarlet Bell Moore, of Greenville; and Laura Jo Bardsley, of South Carolina Department of Social Services, of Bennettsville, both for Respondent.

Michael Julius Schwartz, of Russell B. Long, PA, of Myrtle Beach, for the Guardian ad Litem for the Children.

PER CURIAM: LeRoy Griffin appeals the family court's permanency planning order that granted custody of his minor children to Josh and Tamika Downing and closed the case. See S.C. Code Ann. § 63-7-1700 (Supp. 2021). 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),1 we find no meritorious issues warrant briefing. Accordingly, we affirm the family court's ruling and relieve Griffin's counsel.

AFFIRMED. 2 GEATHERS, MCDONALD, and HILL, JJ., concur.

See also S.C. Dep't of Soc. Servs. v. Downer, S.C. Sup. Ct. Order dated Feb. 2, 2005 (expanding the Cauthen procedure to situations when "an indigent person appeals from an order imposing other measures short of termination of parental rights").

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