Admin. for Children's Servs. v. Ernest I. (In re Fatuma I.)

211 A.D.3d 944

179 N.Y.S.3d 784

In the MATTER OF FATUMA I. (Anonymous).

Administration for Children's Services, petitioner-respondent;

v.Ernest I. (Anonymous), appellant;

Marie V.A. (Anonymous), respondent.

(Proceeding No. 1)

In the Matter of Kedasa I. (Anonymous).

Administration for Children's Services, petitioner-respondent;

v.Ernest I. (Anonymous), appellant;

Marie V.A. (Anonymous), respondent.

(Proceeding No. 2)

In the Matter of Leila I. (Anonymous).

Administration for Children's Services, petitioner-respondent;

v.Ernest I. (Anonymous), appellant;

Marie V.A. (Anonymous), respondent.

(Proceeding No. 3)

2022–00545

Docket Nos. N-6631-15, N-6632-15, N-6633-15

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

Submitted—November 10, 2022

December 21, 2022

Carol L. Kahn, New York, NY, for appellant.

Sylvia O. Hinds–Radix, Corporation Counsel, New York, NY (Rebecca L. Visgaitis and Kevin Osowski of counsel), for petitioner-respondent.

Cheryl Charles–Duval, Brooklyn, NY, for respondent.

Twyla Carter, New York, NY (Dawne A. Mitchell and Amy Hausknecht of counsel), attorney for the children.

COLLEEN D. DUFFY, J.P., REINALDO E. RIVERA, LARA J. GENOVESI, JANICE A. TAYLOR, JJ.

DECISION & ORDER

In related proceedings pursuant to Family Court Act article 10, the father appeals from an order of the Family Court, Kings County (Frank M. Hoelldobler, Ct. Atty. Ref.), dated January 13, 2022. The order, insofar as appealed from, directed that the father shall not be present with the subject children unsupervised, that the father's parental access with the subject children shall be supervised by the mother or the maternal grandfather, and that the father shall not reside in or spend the night in the subject children's home while the subject children are present.

ORDERED that the order is reversed insofar as appealed from, on the law, without costs or disbursements, and the matter is remitted to the Family Court, Kings County, for further proceedings consistent herewith; and it is further,

ORDERED that pending a permanency hearing with respect to the father's access to the subject children and a new determination thereafter, the provisions of the order directing that the father shall not be present with the subject children unsupervised, that the father's parental access with the subject children shall be supervised by the mother or the maternal grandfather, and that the father shall not reside in or spend the night in the subject children's home while the subject children are present shall remain in effect.

In 2015, the three subject children were removed from the care of their parents on the grounds of sexual abuse and derivative abuse, and the children were placed in kinship guardianship with the maternal grandfather. This Court subsequently affirmed an October 17, 2019 order of the Family Court which continued the children's placement in kinship guardianship and denied the parents’ separate applications for a trial discharge of the children (see Matter of Leila I. [Marie V.A.], 191 A.D.3d 878, 138 N.Y.S.3d 886 ). Thereafter, the Family Court conducted several permanency hearings over the next few years to plan for the children's future. On January 13, 2022, the Family Court issued an order (hereinafter the January 2022 order) granting a final discharge of the children to the care of the mother. The January 2022 order, inter alia, directed that the father shall not be present with the children unsupervised, that the father's parental access with the children shall be supervised by the mother or the maternal grandfather, and that the father shall not reside in or spend the night in the...