Court Opinion

ID: 9930241
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-02-06 16:08:04.514576+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:10:57.845319
License: Public Domain

Court of Appeals
of the State of Georgia

                                        ATLANTA,____________________
                                                 February 06, 2024

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A24A0901. IN THE INTEREST OF N. O., et al., CHILDREN (FATHER).

      This appeal arises out of a dependency proceeding brought in January 2021 with
respect to a group of nine siblings, all of whom are minors. Based on evidence
discovered during the course of the dependency case, the mother and the biological
father of the five youngest children (“the father”) were arrested and charged with
multiple counts of cruelty to children in the first degree. The parents were
subsequently released on bond in the criminal case. Each parent’s bond conditions
required, inter alia, that the parent “have no contact with minor children except as
allowed by the Division of Family and Children Services [“DFCS”].” Gwinnett
County DFCS, in turn, prohibited both parents from having any contact with any of
the nine children.
      In October 2023, the Guardian Ad Litem (“GAL”) for the children filed a
petition for an emergency hearing, asserting that in late September, the parents had
made a video call to the oldest child, N. O. Given that this contact with the child
violated a condition set by DFCS and the parents’ respective criminal bonds, the GAL
sought a “no contact” order from the juvenile court. Following a hearing, the juvenile
court entered an order barring the parents from having any contact with any of the
nine minor children. The father then filed this direct appeal from the no contact
order.1 We lack jurisdiction.

      1
          The mother, who is represented by separate counsel, is not a party to this
appeal.
      Direct appeals generally may be taken from “[a]ll final judgments, that is to say,
where the case is no longer pending in the court below[.]” OCGA § 5-6-34 (a) (1). See
also OCGA § 15-11-35 (providing for direct appeals from final juvenile court orders).
Thus, “an order is final and appealable when it leaves no issues remaining to be
resolved, constitutes the court’s final ruling on the merits of the action, and leaves the
parties with no further recourse in the trial court.” Yanes v. Escobar, 362 Ga. App.
896, 897 (870 SE2d 506) (2022)(punctuation omitted). Here, the order the father
seeks to appeal is not a final order because the dependency case remains pending
below, as does the legitimation petition the father filed with respect to the five
youngest children. To obtain immediate review of the trial court’s order, therefore,
the father was required to follow the interlocutory appeal procedures set forth in
OCGA § 5-6-34 (b), which include obtaining a certificate of immediate review from
the trial court. See Islamkhan v. Khan, 299 Ga. 548, 551 (2) (787 SE2d 731) (2016).
The father’s failure to follow those procedures deprives us of jurisdiction over this
appeal, which is hereby DISMISSED.

                                         Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia
                                           Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________
                                                                       02/06/2024
                                                    I certify that the above is a true extract from
                                         the minutes of the Court of Appeals of Georgia.
                                                   Witness my signature and the seal of said court
                                         hereto affixed the day and year last above written.

                                                                                           , Clerk.