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A JUDGE CANNOT DELEGATE PARENTAL ACCESS DETERMINATIONS TO A MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONAL (SECOND DEPT). ​

The Second Department noted that a judge should not delegate to a mental health professional the determination of whether a parent will be awarded parental access:

“[A] court may not properly delegate to mental health professionals the ultimate determination of whether a parent will be awarded [parental access] rights” … . It is “improper for [a] court to condition future [parental access] on the recommendation of a mental health professional” … . Here, the Family Court erred by delegating to the therapeutic agency (1) the authority to determine when therapeutic parental access would cease and the father’s prior stipulated unsupervised parental access schedule would be reinstated and (2) the discretion to expand and/or modify the father’s access to the children … . Accordingly, the order must be modified by deleting the provisions thereof modifying the parental access provisions of the judgment of divorce so as to condition the father’s parental access on the therapeutic agency’s determinations. Matter of McCook v Delbrune, 2025 NY Slip Op 06322, Second Dept 11-19-25

 

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POST-RELEASE SUPERVISION (PRS) CAN PROPERLY BE IMPOSED WHERE A DEFENDANT IS SENTENCED UNDER THE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SURVIVORS JUSTICE ACT (DVSJA); DEFENDANT WAIVED HER RIGHT TO APPEAL THE SENTENCE AS EXCESSIVE (CT APP).

The Court of Appeals, in a full-fledged opinion by Judge Rivera, determined five years post-release supervision (PRS) was properly imposed as part of defendant’s sentence and defendant waived the right to appeal her sentence as excessive. Defendant pled guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to ten years incarceration under the Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act (DVSJA):​

Defendant does not challenge the carceral component of her sentence. Instead, she asserts that the court had no statutory authority to impose five years’ PRS on a defendant convicted of a class A felony and sentenced under the DVSJA. We may review defendant’s claim that her sentence is illegal even though, as we explain, her appeal waiver is valid … . However, defendant misinterprets the statutory scheme, and her claim boils down to a policy argument best suited for the legislature, not the judiciary. * * *

The legislative history of the DVSJA supports our straightforward reading of the Penal Law, and our conclusion that the legislature only intended to give judges discretion to reduce the periods of incarceration for certain defendants who are domestic violence survivors, not to wholly eliminate PRS in such cases … . * * *

… [T]he court specifically advised defendant that certain issues would survive the waiver, and counsel confirmed that they had reviewed those issues with defendant. The written waiver further clarified that, as explained in defendant’s conversation with the court and counsel, defendant was waiving any claim that her sentence is excessive. Under these circumstances, the Appellate Division properly concluded that defendant knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily waived her excessive sentence claim. People v Hernandez, 2025 NY Slip Op 05874, CtApp 10-23-25

Practice Point: Post-release supervision (PRS) can properly be imposed where a defendant is sentenced under the Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act (DVSJA).

 

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IT WAS AN ABUSE OF DISCRETION TO RETURN THE CHILD TO MOTHER DURING THE PENDENCY OF NEGLECT PROCEEDINGS; MOTHER HAD INJURED THE CHILD AND THERE WAS INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE THE IMPOSITION OF CONDITIONS FOR THE CHILD’S RETURN WILL ENSURE THE CHILD’S SAFETY (FIRST DEPT).

The First Department, reversing Family Court, determined mother’s application during the neglect proceedings for the return of her child should have been denied:

Family Court’s finding that the child should be returned to the mother lacked a sound and substantial basis in the record … .  Although the court properly determined, based on the evidence of the child’s physical injuries and her statements, that the mother was the person who inflicted the injuries, it was an improvident exercise of discretion to determine that the risk of harm could be mitigated by the conditions it imposed on the mother in the order under review … .

The court improvidently minimized both the nature and extent of the risk to the child and overstated the potential impact of its order on the child’s safety. Nothing in the mother’s testimony indicated that she understood the emotional harm she caused the child or expressed any genuine remorse over her actions. Initially, she tried to attribute the child’s injuries to an unrelated incident that took place several months earlier. She then claimed to be unaware of how the injuries occurred and ultimately opted to “plead the fifth.” Taken as a whole, the mother’s testimony reflects a lack of insight into how her conduct led to the child’s removal from her care. This lack of understanding further undercuts Family Court’s conclusion that services would be sufficient to mitigate the risk of harm posed to the child while in the mother’s care, and its belief that the mother would comply with the service plan. Although the mother took steps to enroll in services, the mere enrollment is insufficient to overcome the substantial evidence indicating that returning the child to her care would pose a risk to the child’s health and safety. Matter of M.M. (Chelsea B.), 2025 NY Slip Op 05887, First Dept 10-23-25

Practice Point: Here Family Court’s determination that imposing conditions for the child’s return to mother, who had injured the child, would ensure the child’s safety was not supported by the evidence. Therefore it was an abuse of discretion to order the child’s return to mother during the pendency of the neglect proceedings.​

 

THE NYC ADMINISTRATION FOR CHILDREN’S SERVICES (ACS) DID NOT MEET ITS BURDEN TO PROVE IT MADE DILIGENT EFFORTS TO HELP REUNITE FATHER WITH HIS CHILD IN THIS PARENTAL-RIGHTS-TERMINATION PROCEEDING (CT APP). ​

The Court of Appeals, in a full-fledged opinion by Judge Rivera, reversing Family Court, determined the NYC Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) did not demonstrate “that it undertook ‘diligent efforts to encourage and strengthen the parental relationship’ or that such efforts would have been ‘detrimental to the best interests of the child’…” in this termination of parental rights proceeding:

The record below demonstrates that the child services agency failed to present evidence of diligent efforts to help reunite father and his child before it petitioned to terminate father’s parental rights. First, the agency failed to adequately accommodate and account for father’s linguistic needs. Father does not speak or understand English, but the agency never provided interpretive services during family visits, which were the most significant interactions between father, the child, the agency caseworker, and the child’s foster parents. The agency also failed to provide interpretation services at the child’s medical appointments or even give father advance notice of when those appointments were scheduled, precluding him from taking part in that critical aspect of his child’s care. Second, despite the child services agency’s belief that father’s lack of insight into mother’s mental health needs and their impact on parenting the child was the weightiest barrier to reunification, it failed to refer father to individual counseling or a support group so he could gain that insight. Finally, although the child services agency identified father’s living arrangements and onerous work schedule as further obstacles to reunification, it took few steps to help him secure appropriate housing or employment, which could have made it easier for father to visit his child.

In short, in this proceeding, rather than foster reunification, almost all of the child services agency’s actions—and its failures to take action—ensured that the parent-child bond disintegrated. Thus, the child services agency failed to meet its burden as a matter of law … . Matter of K.Y.Z. (W.Z.), 2025 NY Slip Op 05781, CtApp 10-21-25

Practice Point: Here Children’s Services did not provide an interpreter for father for meetings with the caseworker and foster parents, did not give father advance notice of the child’s medical appointments, made no effort to help father find less burdensome employment or better housing, and did not provide counseling to help him gain insight into mother’s mental illness. “Diligent efforts” to reunite father and child were not made by the agency.

 

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THERE WAS NO EVIDENCE MOTHER’S MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES IMPAIRED THE CHILDREN; ONE INCIDENT IN WHICH MOTHER SLAPPED HER SON WHEN HE WAS RUDE AND DISRESPECTFUL DID NOT SUPPORT A FINDING OF EXCESSIVE CORPORAL PUNISHMENT (FIRST DEPT).

The First Department, reversing Family Court, determined the evidence did not support the finding that mother had neglected her children. There was no evidence mother’s mental health issues put the children at risk. The evidence also did not support neglect based on excessive corporal punishment. Mother slapped her 14-year-old son once with an open hand when he refused to provide the password for his phone and was rude and disrespectful:

Although the record here suggests that the mother, who had been diagnosed with major depressive disorder, cannabis use disorder, adjustment disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder, may have been non-compliant with her mental health treatment, the record does not contain evidence sufficient to support a finding of “a link or causal connection between the basis for the neglect petition and the circumstances that allegedly produce the child’s impairment or imminent danger of impairment” … . The only conduct linked to the mother’s mental health was the 14-year-old child’s statements to the caseworker that he feared being with the mother outside of the home because she believed they were being watched, and that she once took a photograph of a man on the subway platform whom she believed was following them. * * *

The mother slapped the 14-year-old child with an open hand when he refused to provide her with the passcode to his cell phone, was rude and disrespectful, and told her he wished she were dead. The mother testified that she demanded to see the child’s cell phone after the school called her to express concern over a change in the child’s behavior and his cell phone usage. The record indicates that the child did not report that the slapping caused him pain, nor were there any marks or bruising on his face or body. A parent has a common-law privilege to use reasonable physical force to discipline a child … . Matter of I.G. (D.V.), 2025 NY Slip Op 05766, First Dept 10-21-25

Practice Point: In the context off child neglect it is not enough to prove mother has mental health issues, it must be shown that mother’s mental health issues impair the children.

Practice Point: A parent has a common-law privilege to use reasonable physical force to discipline a child. A single open-handed slap in response to disrespectful and rude behavior by a 14-year-old is not “excessive corporal punishment.”

 

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CONTRARY TO FAMILY COURT’S RULING, THE EVIDENCE SUPPORTED PARENTAL NEGLECT FINDINGS WITH RESPECT TO ALL THE CHILDREN FOR FAILURE TO PROVIDE MEDICAL AND DENTAL TREATMENT AND FAILURE TO ENSURE SCHOOL ATTENDANCE (FOURTH DEPT).

The Fourth Department, reversing Family Court, determined the evidence supported finding the parents neglected the children by failing to provide medical and dental care and failing to ensure school attendance:

A neglected child is defined, in relevant part, as a child less than 18 years of age “whose physical, mental or emotional condition has been impaired or is in imminent danger of becoming impaired as a result of the failure of [their] parent or other person legally responsible for [their] care to exercise a minimum degree of care . . . in supplying the child with adequate . . . education . . . , or medical[ or] dental . . . care, though financially able to do so or offered financial or other reasonable means to do so” (Family Ct Act § 1012 [f] [i] [A]). “The statute thus imposes two requirements for a finding of neglect, which must be established by a preponderance of the evidence . . . First, there must be proof of actual (or imminent danger of) physical, emotional or mental impairment to the child . . . Second, any impairment, actual or imminent, must be a consequence of the parent’s failure to exercise a minimum degree of parental care . . . This is an objective test that asks whether a reasonable and prudent parent [would] have so acted, or failed to act, under the circumstances” … .

… [T]he evidence of respondents’ ” ‘failure to follow through with necessary treatment for [Rocky M.’s] serious medical condition support[s] [a] finding of medical neglect” against them … . …[R]espondents’ failure to take Jemma M. to medical appointments for most of the first year of her life, particularly in light of her prematurity, condition and weight at birth, and subsequent developmental delays, caused impairment of her physical and emotional condition sufficient to support a finding of medical neglect with respect to her … . … [T]he evidence … , including medical records, establishes that respondents were financially able or had other reasonable means to provide adequate medical care … . The evidence further establishes that respondents neglected Cynthia M., Gwen M., Emmitt C. and Rocky M. by failing to provide adequate dental care … . … [P]etitioner presented unrebutted evidence of excessive school absences for Cynthia M., Gwen M., James M., and Emmitt C., which is sufficient to establish respondents’ educational neglect of those children … . Finally, we conclude that the evidence of neglect with respect to the aforementioned children “demonstrates such an impaired level of . . . judgment as to create a substantial risk of harm for any child in [respondents’] care,” thus warranting a finding of derivative neglect with respect to Nova M. and Trenton M. Matter of Cynthia M., 2025 NY Slip Op 05621, Fourth Dept 10-10-25

Practice Point: The parents’ failure to provide the children with medical and dental care, and the failure to ensure school attendance warranted neglect and derivative neglect findings with respect to all the children, criteria explained.

 

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IN THIS CHILD VICTIMS ACT SUIT AGAINST THE COUNTY ALLEGING NEGLIGENT PLACEMENT IN FOSTER CARE, THE COUNTY DID NOT DEMONSTRATE IT WAS ENTITLED TO GOVERNMENTAL FUNCTION IMMUNITY OR IMMUNITY PURSUANT TO THE SOCIAL SERVICES LAW (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined the county did not have immunity in this Child Victims Act lawsuit alleging negligent foster-care placement of plaintiff. Plaintiff alleged she was sexually abused by her foster father in the late 70’s:

“The governmental function immunity defense provides immunity for the exercise of discretionary authority during the performance of a governmental function” … . “[T]he governmental function immunity defense cannot attach unless the municipal defendant establishes that the discretion possessed by its employees was in fact exercised in relation to the conduct on which liability is predicated” … .

… [T]he County failed to establish, prima facie, that the relevant acts of the County’s employees relating to the alleged negligent supervision of the plaintiff’s foster care placement were discretionary and thus entitled to immunity … . … [E]ven if the acts at issue could potentially be considered discretionary, the County failed to demonstrate that the alleged discretion was in fact exercised in relation to the conduct on which liability is predicated … .

… Contrary to the County’s contention, it “was not entitled to qualified immunity pursuant to Social Services Law § 419, as qualified immunity does not bar recovery for the negligent supervision of children in foster care” … . M.W. v Nassau County, 2025 NY Slip Op 05550, Second Dept 10-8-25

Practice Point: Use this decision as a starting point for research into how governmental function immunity and immunity under the Social Services Law apply to a county foster-care placement. Here the court determined neither type of immunity applied in this Child Victims Act lawsuit.

 

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ENGAGING IN COUNSELING SHOULD NOT BE A CONDITION OF VISITATION; THE COURT SHOULD NOT DELEGATE ITS AUTHORITY TO DETERMINE IF AND WHEN VISITATION SHOULD OCCUR TO A COUNSELOR (FOURTH DEPT). ​

The Fourth Department, modifying Family Court, determined father should not have been directed to engage in counseling as a condition of visitation Family Court shouild not have delegated its authority to the counselor to determine when visitation should resume:

It is well settled that ” ‘[a]lthough a court may include a directive to obtain counseling as a component of a custody or visitation order, the court does not have the authority to order such counseling as a prerequisite to custody or visitation’ ” … . In addition, a court may not give counselors “the authority to determine if and when visitation would occur” … . Matter of Johnson v Pritchard, 2025 NY Slip Op 05398, Fourth Dept 10-3-25

Practice Point: Engaging in counseling should not be a condition of visitation.

Practice Point: Family Court should not delegate its authority to decide if and when visitation should occur to a counselor.

 

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AN ATTORNEY SHOULD BE DISQUALIFIED UNDER THE ADVOCATE-WITNESS RULE WHEN THE ATTORNEY’S TESTIMONY IS NECESSARY TO PROVE ISSUES IN DISPUTE, NOT THE CASE HERE (FIRST DEPT).

The First Department, reversing (modifying) Supreme Court, determined the husband’s attorney, Smith, should not have been disqualified on the ground he would be called as a witness at trial. The appellate division determined Smith’s testimony was not relevant to the financial issues in the divorce action. Therefore Smith should not have been disqualified on the basis that his testimony would be necessary at trial:

The advocate-witness disqualification rules contained in the Code of Professional Responsibility provide guidance, but are not binding authority for courts in determining whether a party’s attorney should be disqualified during litigation … . “Disqualification of a law firm during litigation implicates not only the ethics of the profession but also the substantive rights of the litigants. Disqualification denies a party’s right to representation by the attorney of its choice” … . In considering whether to disqualify counsel, the court must consider a litigant’s right to select his own counsel and the fairness and effect of disqualification in the particular factual setting … . Whether to disqualify an attorney rests in the sound discretion of the trial court … . However, an attorney should be disqualified only when his or her testimony is necessary to prove the issues in dispute … . The party seeking or supporting disqualification need not show that counsel’s continued representation would prejudice his or her client where the court finds that counsel’s testimony is necessary on his or her client’s behalf … . De Luca v De Luca, 2025 NY Slip Op 05146, First Dept 9-25-25

Practice Point: Here the proposed testimony by the attorney was not necessary to prove issues in dispute. Therefore the attorney should not have been disqualified.

 

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EXCESSIVE ABSENCES FROM SCHOOL SUPPORTED THE EDUCATIONAL NEGLECT FINDINGS, BUT NEGLECT BECAUSE OF MENTAL ILLNESS WAS NOT DEMONSTRATED (FIRST DEPT).

The First Department, reversing (modifying) Family Court, determined that, although the petitioner demonstrated the parents educationally neglected the children, the petitioner did not demonstrate father neglected the children because of his mental illness:

A preponderance of the evidence supports Family Court’s finding that parents educationally neglected the children (see Family Court Act §§ 1012[f][i][B], 1046[b][i]). During the fall 2022 term and the previous school year, both children were absent more than half of the school days, and evidence of excessive unexcused absences from school will support a finding of neglect … . Even crediting the father’s testimony that he made efforts to ensure the children attended school, we find that petitioner provided sufficient evidence to establish that the father educationally neglected the children … . Despite years of outreach from the children’s schools, the father failed to follow up, attend important meetings, or obtain proffered services. School records indicated that the children’s academic progress suffered due to excessive absences and tardiness; both children were failing classes and not progressing towards annual goals. Under these circumstances, even though the father spoke with school personnel, inquired about assistance, and ultimately requested a reevaluation for one of the children, he nevertheless failed to take adequate steps to prevent the children from experiencing significant educational delays resulting from poor attendance … .

… [P]etitioner did not satisfy its burden to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the father neglected the children because of his mental illness … . Although the father did not dispute that he suffered from depression, he testified that he was engaged in mental health treatment, including therapy and medication, and petitioner did not provide either documentary evidence or expert testimony demonstrating that the father’s mental illness interfered with his “judgment and parenting abilities” or connecting the father’s depression with his inadequate efforts to ensure the children attended school, thereby placing the children at imminent risk of physical, mental or emotional impairment” … . Matter of S.M.W. (J.R.M.), 2025 NY Slip Op 05181, First Dept 9-25-25

Practice Point: Consult this decision for a rare discussion of the criteria for “educational” and “mental-illness” neglect of children.

 

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