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HERE THE NEGLECT PROCEEDINGS WERE BROUGHT AGAINST FATHER WHO DID NOT LIVE WITH MOTHER AND THE CHILD; MOTHER WAS NOT A PARTY IN THE NEGLECT PROCEEDINGS; FAMILY COURT DID NOT HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO PLACE MOTHER UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF THE ADMINISTRATION FOR CHILDREN’S SERVICES (ACS) (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, reversing Family Court, in a full-fledged opinion by Justice Ventura, determined Family Court did not have statutory authority to place mother, who was not a respondent in the neglect proceeding, under the supervision of the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) and direct that she cooperate with ACS. The neglect proceedings were brought against father (respondent), who did not live with the mother and child. Mother, a “nonrespondent,” was not a party in the neglect proceedings and the child had not been removed from her home:

This appeal presents this Court with the opportunity to decide an issue of first impression in New York involving the rights of nonrespondent parents in child neglect proceedings, to wit: whether the Family Court may place a nonrespondent custodial parent under the supervision of … [ACS] and the court, and direct the parent to cooperate with ACS in various ways, in circumstances where the respondent parent resides elsewhere and the child has not been removed from the nonrespondent parent’s home. Considering, inter alia, the well-established “interest of a parent in the companionship, care, custody, and management of his or her children” … and the lack of any statutory authority permitting the challenged directives, we answer this question in the negative. Therefore, we conclude that, in this case, the Family Court improperly placed the mother under the supervision of ACS and the court, and directed her to cooperate with ACS in certain respects. * * *

… [T]he relevant provisions of Family Court Act § 1017 apply only when a court orders the removal of a child from his or her home and releases the child to the home of a nonrespondent and “noncustodial parent” … . By the plain language of the statutory text, the provisions requiring the nonrespondent parent … to “submit[ ] to the jurisdiction of the court with respect to the child” and “to cooperate” with “the child protective agency” in various ways … are only triggered “[a]fter [the] child is removed from the home” … . Here, since the court never “determin[ed] that [the] child must be removed from . . . her home” … , it did not have authority pursuant to Family Court Act § 1017 to impose the challenged directives upon the mother, no matter how “well-intended” the court’s “goals” may have been … . Matter of Sapphire W. (Kenneth L.), 2025 NY Slip Op 00662, Second Dept 2-5-25

Practice Point: Here Family Court did did not have the authority to place mother, who was not a party to the neglect proceedings against father, under the supervision of ACS.

 

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