EVIDENCE OF EXCESSIVE CORPORAL PUNISHMENT AND VIOLENCE AGAINST MOTHER IN THE CHILDREN’S PRESENCE WARRANTED A NEGLECT FINDING, DISMISSAL OF PETITIONS REVERSED.
The Second Department, reversing Family Court, determined the out-of-court statements of the child (Tahjane) were sufficiently corroborated, and the proof of excessive corporal punishment and a history of violence against mother in the children’s presence supported a finding of neglect by father:
Contrary to the Family Court’s determination, the mother’s testimony and medical records provided sufficient corroboration to support the reliability of Tahjane’s out-of-court statements that the father choked her and, together with the petitioner’s progress notes, established the allegation, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the father inflicted excessive corporal punishment on Tahjane … . Further, the court should have drawn a negative inference from the father’s failure to testify … . Accordingly, the petitioner established, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the father neglected Tahjane by inflicting excessive corporal punishment on her.
The petitioner also established, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the father neglected all of the subject children by perpetrating acts of domestic violence against the mother in their presence. Although “exposing a child to domestic violence is not presumptively neglectful” … , a finding of neglect based on an incident or incidents of domestic violence is proper where a preponderance of the evidence establishes that the child was actually or imminently harmed by reason of the parent or caretaker’s failure to exercise a minimum degree of care … . Matter of Nah-Ki B. (Nakia B.), 2016 NY Slip Op 06492, 2nd Dept 10-5-16
FAMILY LAW (EVIDENCE OF EXCESSIVE CORPORAL PUNISHMENT AND VIOLENCE AGAINST MOTHER IN THE CHILDREN’S PRESENCE WARRANTED A NEGLECT FINDING, DISMISSAL OF PETITIONS REVERSED)/EVIDENCE (FAMILY LAW, EVIDENCE, INCLUDING OUT OF COURT STATEMENTS BY A CHILD, OF EXCESSIVE CORPORAL PUNISHMENT AND VIOLENCE AGAINST MOTHER IN THE CHILDREN’S PRESENCE WARRANTED A NEGLECT FINDING, DISMISSAL OF PETITIONS REVERSED)/HEARSAY (FAMILY LAW, EVIDENCE, INCLUDING OUT OF COURT STATEMENTS BY A CHILD, OF EXCESSIVE CORPORAL PUNISHMENT AND VIOLENCE AGAINST MOTHER IN THE CHILDREN’S PRESENCE WARRANTED A NEGLECT FINDING, DISMISSAL OF PETITIONS REVERSED)/NEGLECT (EVIDENCE OF EXCESSIVE CORPORAL PUNISHMENT AND VIOLENCE AGAINST MOTHER IN THE CHILDREN’S PRESENCE WARRANTED A NEGLECT FINDING, DISMISSAL OF PETITIONS REVERSED)