Summary
The Appellate Division, First Department affirmed an order terminating the father's parental rights based on permanent neglect and committing the children's guardianship and custody to the agency and Commissioner for adoption. The court dismissed the appeal from the fact-finding order because it was entered on default and held that the children's best interests supported termination rather than a suspended judgment, despite the siblings living in separate foster homes.
Court
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, First Department
Jurisdiction
New York Appellate Division, First Department
Decision date
February 24, 2026
Docket number
Docket No. B-07177-78/14, B-14512-13/18; Appeal No. 5907-5907A; Case No. 2024-00050
Disposition
affirmed
Questions Presented
- Whether the record supported termination of the father's parental rights as being in the children's best interests.
- Whether the Family Court should have issued a suspended judgment instead of terminating the father's parental rights.
- Whether the father's desire to keep the siblings together required reversal of the dispositional order.
- Whether an appeal lies from a fact-finding order entered after the father defaulted at the fact-finding hearing.
Holdings
- The record supported the determination that terminating the father's parental rights was in the children's best interests.
- A suspended judgment was not warranted because the father's situation was unlikely to change with a short reprieve and the children were entitled to permanency in their pre-adoptive foster homes.
- The father's desire to keep the children together was not a sufficient basis to reverse the disposition because the preference for siblings to reside together is not absolute.
- No appeal lies from the fact-finding order because the father defaulted at the fact-finding hearing.
Court Document
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