NEGLECT STEMMING FROM MOTHER’S MENTAL ILLNESS NOT PROVEN, FAMILY COURT REVERSED (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined that neglect based upon mother’s mental illness had not been demonstrated:

… [T]he petitioner failed to establish that the mother received inadequate psychiatric treatment for her mental illness, or that her alleged untreated mental illness placed the child at imminent risk of harm. The evidence demonstrated that the mother, who was homeless at the time that she became pregnant and had relapsed into using heroin just a few months earlier, managed to obtain housing at a shelter for high-risk pregnant women, sought out appropriate prenatal care which included visits with a social worker, maintained compliance with a methadone treatment program which included weekly counseling sessions, and regularly took the psychotropic medications that were being prescribed to her by a licensed psychiatrist. The evidence also indicated that the mother interacted appropriately with the child in the hospital following the child’s birth … . The petitioner failed to present competent medical evidence that the treatment the mother was receiving failed to address her mental health needs or was otherwise improper in light of her mental health history … . Matter of Bella S. (Sarah S.), 2018 NY Slip Op 01069, Second Dept 2-14-18

FAMILY LAW (NEGLECT, MENTAL ILLNESS, NEGLECT STEMMING FROM MOTHER’S MENTAL ILLNESS NOT PROVEN, FAMILY COURT REVERSED (SECOND DEPT))/NEGLECT (FAMILY LAW, MENTAL ILLNESS, NEGLECT STEMMING FROM MOTHER’S MENTAL ILLNESS NOT PROVEN, FAMILY COURT REVERSED (SECOND DEPT))/MENTAL ILLNESS (FAMILY LAW, NEGLECT, NEGLECT STEMMING FROM MOTHER’S MENTAL ILLNESS NOT PROVEN, FAMILY COURT REVERSED (SECOND DEPT))