Opinion
2020–07566 Docket Nos. V–3447–19, V–3448–19
10-13-2021
In the Matter of Yasmeya MEHMETI, appellant, v. Shaha DAUTAJ, et al., respondents.
Kyle Sosebee, Brooklyn, NY, for appellant. Michele Evans Arrindell, New York, NY, for respondents. Rosa P. Tragni, Staten Island, NY, attorney for the children.
Kyle Sosebee, Brooklyn, NY, for appellant.
Michele Evans Arrindell, New York, NY, for respondents.
Rosa P. Tragni, Staten Island, NY, attorney for the children.
MARK C. DILLON, J.P., LINDA CHRISTOPHER, PAUL WOOTEN, DEBORAH A. DOWLING, JJ.
DECISION & ORDER In a proceeding pursuant to Family Court Act article 6, the petitioner appeals from an order of the Family Court, Richmond County (Alexandra Byun, Ct. Atty. Ref.), dated September 17, 2020. The order, without a hearing, dismissed the petition for lack of standing.
ORDERED that the order is affirmed, without costs or disbursements.
The petitioner is the biological mother of the subject children. In or around 2008, following the petitioner's incarceration in October 2007, the petitioner voluntarily surrendered her parental rights and the children were adopted by the respondents, the children's paternal uncle and paternal grandmother. The petitioner was released from prison in May 2019. Approximately two months after her release, by petition dated July 30, 2019, the petitioner commenced this proceeding for custody of the children. In an order dated September 17, 2020, the Family Court dismissed the petition for lack of standing. The petitioner appeals.
A biological parent whose parental rights have been terminated is not entitled to thereafter seek custody of the child, including where parental rights have been terminated voluntarily (see Matter of Mee Yung Park v. Lucente, 148 A.D.3d 1154, 49 N.Y.S.3d 312 ; Matter of Adam S., 287 A.D.2d 723, 732 N.Y.S.2d 418 ; Matter of Santosky v. Roach, 161 A.D.2d 908, 557 N.Y.S.2d 473 ; see also Santosky v. Kramer, 455 U.S. 745, 749, 102 S.Ct. 1388, 71 L.Ed.2d 599 ; Matter of Kevin W. v. Monique T., 38 A.D.3d 672, 673, 832 N.Y.S.2d 82 ). Here, the petitioner's parental rights to the children were terminated voluntarily in or around 2008 and the children were adopted by the respondents. Thus, at the time the petitioner commenced this proceeding, she was not a person entitled to seek custody of the children (see Matter of Mee Yung Park v. Lucente, 148 A.D.3d 1154, 49 N.Y.S.3d 312 ; Matter of Adam S., 287 A.D.2d 723, 732 N.Y.S.2d 418 ; Matter of Kevin W. v. Monique T., 38 A.D.3d 672, 832 N.Y.S.2d 82 ). Accordingly, the Family Court properly dismissed the petition for lack of standing.
DILLON, J.P., CHRISTOPHER, WOOTEN and DOWLING, JJ., concur.