Orange Cnty. Dep't of Soc. Servs. v. Thawanda C. (In re Ceanna B.)

Full title: In the Matter of CEANNA B. (Anonymous). Orange County Department of Social…

Court: Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department, New York.

Date published: Apr 24, 2013

105 A.D.3d 1044 (N.Y. App. Div. 2013)

2013 N.Y. Slip Op. 2746

963 N.Y.S.2d 377

Opinion

2013-04-24

In the Matter of CEANNA B. (Anonymous). Orange County Department of Social Services, petitioner-respondent; Thawanda C. (Anonymous), appellant, et al., respondent. (Proceeding No. 1) In the Matter of Sean B. (Anonymous). Orange County Department of Social Services, petitioner-respondent; v. Thawanda C. (Anonymous), appellant, et al., respondent. (Proceeding No. 2).

Mark Diamond, New York, N.Y., for appellant. David Darwin, County Attorney, Goshen, N.Y. (Linda Pierson DaSilva of counsel), for petitioner-respondent.

MARK C. DILLON

Mark Diamond, New York, N.Y., for appellant. David Darwin, County Attorney, Goshen, N.Y. (Linda Pierson DaSilva of counsel), for petitioner-respondent.
Gary E. Eisenberg, New City, N.Y., attorney for the children.

MARK C. DILLON, J.P., LEONARD B. AUSTIN, SANDRA L. SGROI, and JEFFREY A. COHEN, JJ.

In two related child protective proceedings 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, Orange County (Currier Woods, J.), dated December 6, 2011, as, after a fact-finding hearing, found that she had neglected the subject children.

ORDERED that the order of fact-finding and disposition is affirmed insofar as appealed from, without costs or disbursements.

The evidence presented at the fact-finding hearing established, by a preponderance of the evidence ( seeFamily Ct. Act § 1046[b][i] ), that the mother encouraged the subject children to make false allegations of sexual abuse against the father, which resulted in the father's alienation from the children. Accordingly, the Family Court properly found that the mother neglected the subject children ( seeFamily Ct. Act § 1012[f][i][B]; Matter of Salvatore M., 104 A.D.3d 769, 961 N.Y.S.2d 292;Matter of Kevin M.H. [Kenneth H.], 76 A.D.3d 1015, 908 N.Y.S.2d 109;Matter of Morgan P., 60 A.D.3d 1362, 875 N.Y.S.2d 401;Matter of Daniel D., 57 A.D.3d 444, 870 N.Y.S.2d 287).

The mother's remaining contentions are without merit, or have been rendered academic.