Ohio Child Custody, Support and Visitation Law: Laws on Establishing Custody and Parenting Time

An unmarried female who gives birth to a child is the sole residential parent and legal custodian of the child until a court of competent jurisdiction issues an order designating another person as the residential parent and legal custodian. A court designating the residential parent and legal custodian of a child described in this section shall treat the mother and father as standing upon an equality when making the designation.

Allocating parental rights and responsibilities for care of children, including provisions for shared parenting.

Provision for temporary child custody order while a final custody order is pending.

Provisions for parenting time (visitation rights)

Court mediation of custody disputes

The Domestic Relations, not the Juvenile, Court has jurisdiction over custody if
(1) The child's parents are married to each other.
(2) The child's parents were married to each other but no longer are married to each other and there is an existing order for custody or support regarding the child or another child of the same parents over which the juvenile court does not have jurisdiction.
(3) The determination is ancillary to the parents' pending or prior action for divorce, dissolution of marriage, annulment, or legal separation.

Ohio has enacted the UCCJCA. Some of the more relevant sections are linked below.

Ohio has jurisdiction to make an initial determination in a child custody proceeding only if one of the following applies:
(1) Ohio is the home state of the child on the date of the commencement of the proceeding, or was the home state of the child within six months before the commencement of the proceeding and the child is absent from this state but a parent or person acting as a parent continues to live in this state.
(2) A court of another state does not have jurisdiction under division (A)(1) of this section or a court of the home state of the child has declined to exercise jurisdiction on the basis that this state is the more appropriate forum and both of the following are the case:
(a) The child and the child's parents, or the child and at least one parent or a person acting as a parent, have a significant connection with this state other than mere physical presence.
(b) Substantial evidence is available in this state concerning the child's situation.
(3) All courts having jurisdiction under division (A)(1) or (2) of this section have declined to exercise jurisdiction on the ground that a court of this state is the more appropriate forum to determine the custody of the child.
(4) No court of any other state would have jurisdiction under the criteria specified in division (A)(1), (2), or (3) of this section.

A court of this state has temporary emergency jurisdiction if a child is present in this state and either of the following applies:
(1) The child has been abandoned.
(2) It is necessary in an emergency to protect the child because the child, or a sibling or parent of the child, is subjected to or threatened with mistreatment or abuse.

Apply where there is no juvenile rule on the topic.