In re Darren HH.

• Decision Date: 01 April 2010
• Citation: 72 A.D.3d 1147,898 N.Y.S.2d 315
• Parties: In the Matter of DARREN HH., a Neglected Child. Clinton County Department of Social Services, Respondent; Amber HH. et al., Appellants. (Proceeding No. 1.) In the Matter of Dakota II. and Others, Alleged to be the Children of a Mentally Ill Parent. Clinton County Department of Social Services, Respondent; Amber HH., Appellant. (Proceeding No. 2.) In the Matter of Destiny HH. and Others, Alleged to be the Children of a Mentally Ill Parent. Clinton County Department of Social Services, Respondent; Rolland HH., Appellant. (Proceeding No. 3.)
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

898 N.Y.S.2d 315
72 A.D.3d 1147

In the Matter of DARREN HH., a Neglected Child.
Clinton County Department of Social Services, Respondent;
Amber HH. et al., Appellants. (Proceeding No. 1.)
In the Matter of Dakota II. and Others, Alleged to be the Children of a Mentally Ill Parent.
Clinton County Department of Social Services, Respondent;
Amber HH., Appellant. (Proceeding No. 2.)
In the Matter of Destiny HH. and Others, Alleged to be the Children of a Mentally Ill Parent.
Clinton County Department of Social Services, Respondent;
Rolland HH., Appellant. (Proceeding No. 3.)

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Department, New York.

April 1, 2010.

898 N.Y.S.2d 316

Bruce Evans Knoll, Albany, for Amber HH., appellant.

Paul J. Connolly, Delmar, for Rolland HH., appellant.

Van Crockett, Clinton County Department of Social Services, Plattsburgh, for respondent.

Natalie B. Miner, Law Guardian, Homer.

Before: MERCURE, J.P., SPAIN, ROSE, LAHTINEN and STEIN, JJ.

STEIN, J.

72 A.D.3d 1147

Appeals (1) from three orders of the Family Court of Clinton County (Lawliss, J.), entered March 27, 2009, which, among other things, granted petitioner's application, in proceeding No. 1 pursuant to Family Ct. Act article 10-A, to approve

72 A.D.3d 1148

petitioner's permanency plan, and (2) from two orders of said court, entered March 30, 2009, which, among other things, granted petitioner's applications, in proceedings Nos. 2 and 3 pursuant to Social Services Law § 384-b, to adjudicate the subject children to be the children of mentally ill parents, and terminated respondents' parental rights.

Respondent Amber HH. (hereinafter the mother) is the mother of five children (born in 1999, 2001, 2003, 2006 and 2008). Her husband, respondent Rolland HH. (hereinafter the father), is the father of the four youngest children. In 2004, the father pleaded guilty to one count of endangering the welfare of a child in satisfaction of criminal charges alleging, among other things, that he engaged in sexual intercourse with the mother's then 14-year-old sister. Due, in part, to such conduct and to the mother's refusal to acknowledge the father's behavior or its potentially injurious effect on her children, the four oldest children were removed from their home in June 2007. Following fact-finding and dispositional hearings held later that year, the children were found to be neglected. The children have remained in petitioner's custody since their initial removal from the home. Likewise, the mother's youngest child was placed in foster care immediately after his birth and was later found to be neglected ( see Matter of Darren HH. [Amber HH.], 68 A.D.3d 1197, 889 N.Y.S.2d 770 [2009], lv. denied

898 N.Y.S.2d 317

14 N.Y.3d 703, 2010 WL 607128 [Feb. 23, 2010] ).¹ In August 2008, the father was found guilty of two counts of forcible touching and endangering the welfare of a child. Those charges related to an incident in 2005 wherein he placed his hands down the pants of his then three-year-old daughter and of the mother's then 11-year-old sister.

After directing that the mother and father undergo mental health evaluations and conducting a joint hearing, Family Court determined, in proceeding Nos. 2 and 3, that both parents were incapable, by reason of mental illness, of providing adequate care for their respective children and terminated their parental...