Matter of J.S. (S.A.)

Summary

The Appellate Division, First Department, affirmed a Family Court fact-finding order that the respondent mother medically neglected her older child and derivatively neglected her younger child. The court held that the evidence supported the neglect findings, that certain agency records were properly admitted under the business records exception, and that the appeal from the dispositional order was from a nonappealable paper.

Holdings

1. A preponderance of the evidence supported Family Court's finding that the mother medically neglected her older child because, by withholding or delaying consent to emergency treatment, she caused an impairment or risk of impairment to the child's condition.
2. Family Court's credibility determinations were entitled to deference.
3. Family Court properly admitted petitioner's progress notes and oral report transmittals under the business-records exception to the hearsay rule, while excluding the hearsay portions of the admitted oral report transmittal.
4. The finding that the mother derivatively neglected her younger child was proper.
5. The appeal from the order of disposition entered upon the mother's default was dismissed because it was taken from a nonappealable paper.

Questions Presented

1. Whether a preponderance of the evidence supported the finding that the mother medically neglected her older child.
2. Whether the mother's conduct supported a finding that she derivatively neglected her younger child.
3. Whether Family Court properly admitted petitioner's progress notes and oral report transmittals under the business-records exception to the hearsay rule.
4. Whether the appeal from the order of disposition entered upon the mother's default was taken from an appealable paper.

Disposition

affirmed