627 S.E.2d 352
No. COA05-843North Carolina Court of Appeals
Filed 21 March 2006 This case not for publication
Mecklenburg County No. 03 J 781.
Appeal by respondent mother from judgment entered 31 August 2004 by Judge Avril U. Sisk in Mecklenburg County District Court. Heard in the Court of Appeals 7 February 2006.
Youth Family Services, by Alan B. Edmonds, for petitioner-appellee.
Robert W. Ewing, for respondent-appellant.
Alexandra S. Gruber, for Guardian ad Litem.
Jeannie Brown and Matt McKay for Guardian ad Litem.
LEVINSON, Judge.
Respondent mother purports to take an appeal from a custody review order entered pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 7B-906. We dismiss the appeal.
This matter came on for review of the minor child’s placement in foster care on 31 August 2004. A review order was entered on the same date continuing the child’s placement in foster care and suspending reasonable efforts to reunify. Respondent appealed, and now makes numerous arguments related to the sufficiency of the review order.
Respondent’s appeal is governed by the North Carolina General Statutes in effect 31 August 2004. N.C. Gen. Stat. §7B-1001(2003), governing the right to appeal “any final order of the court in a juvenile matter[,]” defined a final order to include:
(1) Any order finding absence of jurisdiction;
(2) Any order which in effect determines the action and prevents a judgment from which appeal might be taken;
(3) Any order of disposition after an adjudication that a juvenile is abused, neglected, or dependent; or
(4) Any order modifying custodial rights.
This Court, in In re B.N.H., 170 N.C. App. 157, 160, 611 S.E.2d 888, 890, disc. review denied, 359 N.C. 632, 615 S.E.2d 865 (2005), held that the term “order of disposition” in Subsection 3 of G.S. § 7B-1001 means the order of disposition that is entered after an adjudication of abuse, neglect, or dependency pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 7B-905 (2003). Under Subsection 4, only orders that “modify custodial rights” are final orders for purposes of appeal under the statute.
The current order on appeal does not meet the criteria set forth in Subsections 1 or 2 of G.S. § 7B-1001. Moreover, our opinion in In re BNH, supra, controls our conclusion that the present order does not meet the criterion under Subsection 3. And, because the record on appeal does not demonstrate that respondent’s custodial rights were modified, it does not meet the criterion set forth in Subsection 4. Consequently, the issues concerning the review order on appeal are not before us.
With respect to respondent’s repeated argument that the trial court failed to hold a permanency planning hearing as of the date of the review hearing, we observe that the transcript reveals that the trial court merely decided not to hold such a hearing in conjunction with the review hearing that resulted in this appeal. Respondent is correct in her observation that the current order on appeal does not comply with the requirements concerning permanency planning because it is not such an order.
The present appeal must be Dismissed.
Judges McCULLOUGH and ELMORE concur.
Report per Rule 30(e).