Matter of Michael H. (Catherine I.)

Summary

The Appellate Division, Third Department, held that Family Court improperly prohibited a child protective agency from discussing adoption and parental surrender with a child in its custody. The court concluded that the blanket prohibition interfered with the agency's statutory and regulatory duties concerning permanency planning, while recognizing the attorney for the child's responsibility to provide meaningful representation. Although the appeal was technically moot after withdrawal of the permanent neglect petition, the court applied the mootness exception and reversed, granting the agency's motion and vacating the prohibition order.

Holdings

1. The appeal was moot because withdrawal of the permanent-neglect petition vacated the underlying order, but the substantial, novel, and likely-to-recur-yet-evade-review exception to mootness applied.
2. A child protective agency and its caseworkers have statutory and regulatory obligations to discuss permanency matters, including adoption, with a child in the agency's care.
3. Although an attorney for the child may need reasonable time to discuss sensitive matters such as adoption or surrender with the child before others do, the attorney's responsibilities cannot be converted into a blanket prohibition preventing the agency from carrying out its statutory duties.
4. Family Court erred by issuing and refusing to modify a blanket prohibition on the agency's caseworkers discussing surrender and adoption with the child; the order on appeal was reversed and the July 13, 2021 order was vacated.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the appeal was reviewable under the exception to the mootness doctrine after the agency withdrew the permanent-neglect petition.
2. Whether Family Court could, at the request of the attorney for the child, prohibit a child protective agency from discussing surrender and adoption with a child in the agency's custody.
3. Whether the blanket prohibition unlawfully interfered with the child protective agency's statutory and regulatory duties concerning permanency planning, casework contact, and the child's well-being.

Disposition

reversed