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In reversing Family Court in a custody proceeding and sending the matter back for complete forensic evaluations of the parties and a de novo hearing, as well as ordering the appointment of a new attorney for the child, the Second Department noted several significant evidentiary errors, including inadmissible hearsay, a violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and the failure to order forensic evaluations of the parties:

Before a hearing on the petitions was held, the attorney for the subject child, based on the out-of-court statements of the day care provider, made an application for the father to be awarded temporary custody of the subject child. The Family Court granted that application. Such an award was improper, as it was based on the disputed hearsay allegations … .

During the hearing on the petitions, the Family Court erred in permitting the father to testify that the subject child told him that the mother's other daughter “did it.” The father's testimony was intended to show that the mother's other daughter might have sexually abused the subject child. The statement was inadmissible hearsay, and did not qualify as either prompt outcry evidence, or as a spontaneous declaration… . * * *

The Family Court also erred in overruling the mother's objection to the testimony of her other daughter's treating physician about his treatment of that child on the ground that the Privacy Rule standard of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (hereinafter HIPAA) for disclosure of her other daughter's medical information was not met (see 45 CFR 164.512[e][1][i], [ii]). The mother's other daughter was not a party to the proceeding, and permitting her treating physician to testify in violation of HIPAA directly impaired the interest protected by the HIPAA Privacy Rule of keeping one's own medical records private. As such, the Family Court should have sustained the mother's objection to this testimony … . * * *

The Family Court erred in failing to order forensic evaluations of the parties, their living environments, and the subject child prior to issuing a decision on the petitions. “In custody disputes, the value of forensic evaluations of the parents and children has long been recognized” … . “Although forensic evaluations are not always necessary, such evaluations may be appropriate where there exist sharp factual disputes that affect the final determination” … . Here, in the absence of such evaluations, the record in this case is inadequate to support the court's finding that it was in the best interest of the subject child for the father to be awarded sole custody of her… .

Moreover, “[an attorney for the child] should not have a particular position or decision in mind at the outset of the case before the gathering of evidence” … . It is only appropriate for an attorney for a child to form an opinion as to what would be in the child's best interest, after such inquiry … . Here, it was inappropriate for the attorney for the subject child to have advocated for a temporary change in custody without having conducted a complete investigation. The attorney for the subject child acknowledged that his application was based solely on his discussion with the father and the subject child's day care provider, which was located near the father's residence, and that he did not speak to the mother or the subject child's other day care provider closer to the mother's residence. Matter of Brown v Simon, 2014 NY Slip Op 09127, 2nd Dept 12-31-14


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