CLEVELAND — Legal analysis: With the body of 5-year-old Darnell Taylor having been found in Franklin County, questions have come up regarding what kind of legal custody Pammy Maye had over the child.
A report from 3News' partner station WBNS 10TV in Columbus described Maye, 48, as Taylor's "legal custodian," which is just one type of custody arrangement available to non-parents of children in the state of Ohio.
While 10TV talked with Taylor's biological grandparents and aunt, there was no mention of either of his biological parents in that report. It's unclear how grandparents Anthony and Tawanda Baynes ended up taking care of Taylor, but they did say it was them who handed over custody willingly to Maye, who was a longtime family friend.
Maye was taken into police custody in Cleveland's Brooklyn suburb on Friday, and told authorities where they could find Taylor's body, which was recovered in a sewer drain on the same day.
Maye, who has had custody of the child since May 2023, now faces murder, kidnapping and child endangerment charges. However, it remains unclear exactly what kind of legal custody she had of Taylor.
There are three different types of legal custody that can be awarded to non-parents in the state of Ohio: custody, guardianship, and adoption.
Custody orders, which come with the least rights for the custodian, are issued from either domestic relations court or juvenile court in the county where the child lives. Custody orders are issued from domestic relations courts if the child's parents are married, separated, or divorced from each other. Custody orders come from juvenile court if the child is part of a children's services case, or if the child's parents were never married to each other.
Both guardianship orders — which come with similar rights as custodial orders — and adoption decrees — which come with the most rights — originate from probate court. Altogether, these three types of legal custody arrangements have varying levels of rights associated with them.
A custody order and a guardianship order are similar in terms of the rights they come with. With a custody order, the biological parents still have the right to visit the child, and can ask the judge to give custody back at a later date, if they so choose. With guardianship orders, if the parent is still alive but was temporarily unable to care for the child, the parent can again ask the judge to give custody back to them at a later date.
Adoption, however, creates permanent and complete legal parental rights for the adopting parent. This means adoption terminates the biological parents' parental rights, or the biological parents waive their parental rights. This also means there's no asking to get custody back for the biological parents once an adoption is finalized.
When it comes to record-keeping for these orders, some files are kept at the county court level and others are held at the state level. For custody orders coming out of domestic relations and juvenile courts, those orders are kept with the corresponding county clerks.
For guardianship orders and adoption decrees coming out of probate court, those courts keep those final orders on file, as well. The full adoption file, however, is kept at the Ohio Department of Health with the Bureau of Vital Statistics. That full file will include more than just the adoption decree; it could have information about the birth parents, adoptive parents, and the adoptee. It could also include other relevant information, like medical records from birth and the child's birth certificate.
The one thing each of these types of custody orders has in common is that they're not accessible to the public. That means that no matter whether Maye had a simple custody order over Taylor, whether she was his legal guardian, or whether she had formally adopted him, we wouldn't be able to find those records in a docket search or get them produced with a public records request.
In the event of an adoption, the only people other than the adopted person who can request those records from the Bureau of Vital Statistics are their lineal descendants — meaning their eventual children, grandchildren, and so on.
What this all boils down to is that, legally speaking, the only way we'd be able to see the records related to Maye's custody over Taylor right now is if Taylor's biological family had copies of those records and were willing to share them with us.
Stephanie Haney is licensed to practice law in both Ohio and California.
The information in this article and video is provided for general informational purposes only. None of the information in this article and video is offered, nor should it be construed, as legal advice on any matter.
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