FAMILY COURT PROPERLY CONSIDERED THE BEST INTERESTS OF THE TWO CHILDREN IN ITS PLACEMENT DECISION; STRONG TWO-JUSTICE DISSENT (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, over an extensive two-justice dissent, determined Family Court properly considered the best interests of two children in deciding where the children should be place. The dissent disagreed. The decision is too detailed and fact-specific to fairly summarize here:

At its essence, this appeal presents a circumstance where everyone involved—the foster mother, the godmother, the attorney for the child, ACS, and the Family Court—agreed that the child and his half-sibling should be kept together. The court found that both the godmother’s home and the foster mother’s home were entirely suitable, but in choosing between the two, properly noted that the half-sibling’s father did not consent to the half-sibling being placed anywhere except with the godmother. The court’s consideration of that fact did not mean that the child’s best interests were not globally considered, but was instead a relevant and necessary fact that the court needed to take into account in determining how to best promote the child’s best interests and the obvious benefit to him of keeping the two half-siblings together as each other’s sole living, known, biological relatives. It was not error for the court to do so, and in fact, the court would have been derelict in its duties had it failed to do so. Matter of Adonnis M. (Kenyetta M.), 2021 NY Slip Op 03322, Second Dept 5-26-21