Mother’s Actions and Mental Health Issues Did Not Warrant a Finding of Neglect

The Fourth Department determined mother's actions and mental health issues did not support Family Court's neglect-finding.  The mother had left her child with appropriate caregivers and kept in touch, although she was absent longer than expected:

“[A] party seeking to establish neglect must show, by a preponderance of the evidence . . . , first, that [the] child's physical, mental or emotional condition has been impaired or is in imminent danger of becoming impaired and second, that the actual or threatened harm to the child is a consequence of the failure of the parent . . . to exercise a minimum degree of care in providing the child with proper supervision or guardianship” (…see Family Ct Act §§ 1012 [f] [i]; 1046 [b] [i]). “Where a motion is made by the respondent at the close of the petitioner's case to dismiss a neglect petition, [the court] must determine whether the petitioner presented a prima facie case of neglect . . . , viewing the evidence in [the] light most favorable to the petitioner and affording it the benefit of every inference which could be reasonably drawn from the proof presented” … .

We conclude that, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to petitioner, the evidence established that the mother left the child with appropriate caregivers, who agreed to care for the child for several days; however, she left the state for approximately 24 hours, and she failed to provide a medical authorization in case of an emergency. Further, although the male caregiver was unable to reach the mother during the confrontation with the mother's grandmother, petitioner's evidence established that the mother had borrowed a telephone and had remained in contact with the caregivers each day that she was away. The evidence also established that the mother was inexperienced as a parent and that the couple with whom she lived was assisting her with parenting skills and in obtaining appropriate housing, as well as medical and other benefits.

We conclude that petitioner failed to establish that, as a result of the mother's actions, the child was in imminent danger, i.e., “near or impending [danger], not merely possible” … . We further conclude that petitioner failed to present any evidence connecting the mother's alleged mental health condition to any actual or potential harm to the child … . We therefore conclude that petitioner failed to establish by a preponderance of the evidence that the child's physical, mental or emotional condition had been impaired or was in imminent danger of becoming impaired as a result of the mother's failure to exercise a minimum degree of care for the child … . Matter of Lacey-Sophia TR, 2015 NY Slip Op 01123, 4th Dept 2-6-15