In re Crystal S.
| Decision Date | 01 June 2010 |
| Citation | 902 N.Y.S.2d 623,74 A.D.3d 823 |
| Parties | In the Matter of CRYSTAL S. (Anonymous). Administration for Children's Services, respondent; Elaine S. (Anonymous), appellant. |
| Court | New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division |
Etta Ibok, Brooklyn, N.Y., for appellant.
Michael A. Cardozo, Corporation Counsel, New York, N.Y. (Leonard Koerner and Larry A. Sonnenshein of counsel), for respondent.
Steven Banks, New York, N.Y. (Tamara A. Steckler of counsel), attorney for the child.
A. GAIL PRUDENTI, P.J., DANIEL D. ANGIOLILLO, RUTH C. BALKIN, and CHERYL E. CHAMBERS, JJ.
[902 N.Y.S.2d 624, 74 A.D.3d 823]
In a child protective proceeding pursuant to Family Court Act article 10, the mother appeals, as limited by her brief, from so much of an order of fact-finding and disposition of the Family Court, Kings County (Danoff, J.), dated November 21, 2008, as, after a fact-finding and dispositional hearing, found that she neglected the subject child.
ORDERED that the order of fact-finding and disposition is reversed insofar as appealed from, on the law and the facts, without costs or disbursements, and the finding of neglect against the mother is vacated.
The Administration for Children's Services (hereinafter ACS) commenced the instant proceeding in September 2006, alleging that the child, Crystal, age 16, was neglected by the mother and the mother's boyfriend, who is not a party to this appeal. The petition alleged that the mother's boyfriend slapped Crystal in the face, grabbed her by the arm, pulled her hair, and pushed her against a wall. With respect to the mother, the petition alleged that she refused to allow Crystal to return home, despite services offered by ACS.
At a combined fact-finding and dispositional hearing, thecaseworker, who interviewed Crystal after the incident, testified that Crystal stated that when she arrived home at around midnight on September 6, 2006, her mother's boyfriend slapped her in the face. The caseworker observed a mark, a bruise, and small swelling the size of a quarter on Crystal's arm.
The mother testified that, on the day of the incident, Crystal left the house after she was specifically directed to stay home. When Crystal returned home around midnight, after her sister had located her at a friend's house and the mother told the friend to send her home, the mother told Crystal to go to her room. Instead, Crystal screamed at the mother's boyfriend in the kitchen, he screamed back "get out of my face," and they physically struggled with each other. The mother testified that she saw Crystal reach for a knife, so she came between her boyfriend and Crystal and held Crystal's arms to prevent her from reaching for the knife. The mother acknowledged that the swelling on Crystal's arm and the scratch was probably a result of her "holding her arms to prevent her from reaching for a knife."
At the conclusion of the hearing, the Family Court found that "we have a case of an out of control child who consistently disobeyed the rules of the home set down by the mother." However, based upon the mother's admission that she held Crystal "very hard," resulting in the injury to Crystal's arm, the Family Court found that a preponderance of the evidence demonstrated that the mother "failed to provide adequate care and guardianship of the child," and found that she had neglected Crystal. The Family Court suspended judgment until November 20, 2009, and directed the mother and Crystal to participate in family therapy, "with the mother to cooperate with monthly ACS supervision." By order dated November 23, 2009, the neglect petition against the mother was dismissed with prejudice.
Based upon the subsequent dismissal of the petition, the attorney for Crystal has moved in this Court to dismiss the instant appeal as academic. However, the fact that the proceeding was dismissed does not mean that the finding of neglect against the mother no longer stands ( see Matter of Angela D., 175 A.D.2d 244, 245, 572 N.Y.S.2d 710), especially since the order dismissing...
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In re Araynah B.
...the court entered an order of dismissal explicitly vacating it. In support of the motion respondent cited Matter of Crystal S. (74 A.D.3d 823, 902 N.Y.S.2d 623 [2d Dept.2010] ),4 which had been decided after the original dispositional order had been entered. Thereafter, on July 22, 2011, th......
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...absent a showing of exceptional circumstances after the expiration of that period 154 A.D.3d 11(see Matter of Crystal S. [Elaine S. ], 74 A.D.3d 823, 902 N.Y.S.2d 623 [2d Dept.2010] ). Family Court Act § 1053, however, is silent as to what it means in practical terms for a respondent at the......
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Admin. for Children's Servs. v. Jane W. (In re Elijah P.)
...mother no longer stands. The order dismissing the proceeding did not vacate the neglect finding (see Matter of Crystal S. [Elaine S.], 74 A.D.3d 823, 824–825, 902 N.Y.S.2d 623 ). "Because the adjudication of neglect constitutes a permanent and significant stigma which might indirectly 142 N......
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In re Anastasia L.-D. (Anonymous). Admin. for Children's Servs.
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