FAMILY COURT SHOULD HAVE MADE FINDINGS TO ENABLE THE CHILD TO PETITION FOR SPECIAL IMMIGRANT JUVENILE STATUS (SIJS) SUCH THAT THE CHILD WOULD NOT BE RETURNED TO GUATEMALA (SECOND DEPT).
The Second Department, reversing Family Court, determined Family Court should have made findings to enable the child to petition for special immigrant juvenile status (SIJS) such that the child would not be returned to Guatemala:
… [A] special immigrant juvenile is a resident alien who … is under 21 years of age, unmarried, and dependent upon a juvenile court or legally committed to an individual appointed by a state or juvenile court. … [F]or a child to qualify for SIJS, a court must find that reunification of the child with one or both parents is not viable due to parental abuse, neglect, abandonment, or a similar basis found under state law … , and that it would not be in the child’s best interests to be returned to his or her country of nationality or country of last habitual residence … . …
The Family Court should have granted that branch of the child’s motion which was for a specific finding that reunification with his father is not viable due to parental neglect. Based upon our independent factual review, the record demonstrates that the child’s father physically and emotionally mistreated the child, and prevented him from attending school for more than one year and on other occasions without a reasonable justification, and that the child’s mother failed to protect him from such mistreatment. Thus, the record supports the requisite finding that reunification with the child’s father is not viable due to parental neglect … . Matter of Jose F. M. P. (Francisco D. M. G.), 2022 NY Slip Op 02414, Second Dept 4-13-22