SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK

Appellate Division, Fourth Judicial Department

907 

CAF 14-01583 

PRESENT: SCUDDER, P.J., SMITH, CENTRA, PERADOTTO, AND CARNI, JJ. 

 

IN THE MATTER OF CRAIG PROCOPIO, 

PETITIONER-RESPONDENT, 

V MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

KELLY PROCOPIO, RESPONDENT-APPELLANT. 

 

FRANK H. HISCOCK LEGAL AID SOCIETY, SYRACUSE (KRISTEN N. MCDERMOTT OF

COUNSEL), FOR RESPONDENT-APPELLANT. 

GERMAIN & GERMAIN, LLP, SYRACUSE (GALEN F. HAAB OF COUNSEL), FOR

PETITIONER-RESPONDENT. 

LISA M. FAHEY, ATTORNEY FOR THE CHILDREN, EAST SYRACUSE.

 

Appeal from an order of the Supreme Court, Onondaga County

(Martha E. Mulroy, A.J.), entered June 18, 2014 in a proceeding

pursuant to Family Court Act article 6. The order, among other

things, awarded petitioner Craig Procopio sole custody of the subject

children and directed that respondent Kelly Procopio’s visitation with

the children be supervised. 

It is hereby ORDERED that the order so appealed from is

unanimously affirmed without costs.

Memorandum: In this proceeding pursuant to Family Court Act

article 6, respondent mother appeals from an order modifying the

parties’ existing custody/visitation arrangement by directing that she

have supervised visitation with the parties’ children. “Courts have

broad discretion in determining whether visits should be supervised”

(Matter of Campbell v January, 114 AD3d 1176, 1177, lv denied 23 NY3d

902), and that determination “will not be disturbed as long as there

is a sound and substantial basis in the record to support it” (Matter

of Chilbert v Soler, 77 AD3d 1405, 1406, lv denied 16 NY3d 701

[internal quotation marks omitted]). Here, Supreme Court’s

determination to impose supervised visitation is supported by a sound

and substantial basis in the record. The record establishes that the

mother, who struggled with substance abuse and various mental health

issues, including bipolar disorder, had difficulty controlling her

reactive behavior, which largely consisted of verbal abuse and

inappropriate text messages and included some physical abuse. As a

result, she engaged in erratic and abusive behavior toward the

children, who struggled emotionally and required counseling. The

mother’s therapist testified that the mother’s relationship with the
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CAF 14-01583 

children and her visitation with them was a trigger for her reactive

behavior, and that supervised visitation was appropriate in order to

provide the stability and consistency that the mother needed as she

continued to work on her mental health issues (see Matter of Green v

Bontzolakes, 111 AD3d 1282, 1284; Matter of Westfall v Westfall, 28

AD3d 1229, 1229-1230, lv denied 7 NY3d 706; Matter of Simpson v

Simrell, 296 AD2d 621, 621-622). 

We reject the mother’s contention that the court abused its

discretion in relying on the testimony of the children’s counselor

because she was not qualified as an expert and admitted that she was

biased. The counselor was permitted to testify as a fact witness, and

“[w]e give due deference to the factual findings of [the court], which

had the opportunity to observe the [counselor] and assess [her]

credibility” (Matter of Mikolinski v Farnsworth, 249 AD2d 956, 956, lv

denied 92 NY2d 807).

The mother further contends that the court erred in ordering that

visitation be supervised by the Children’s Consortium or the Salvation

Army due to financial and safety concerns. Contrary to the mother’s

contention, the order permitted the parties to use any other

“comparable supervised visitation program,” and thus the parties were

not required to use the Children’s Consortium or the Salvation Army

for supervised visitation. We note in any event that the record

establishes that it is in the children’s best interests to continue

supervised visitation at one of those facilities (see Matter of Brown

v Gandy, 125 AD3d 1389, 1390). The mother’s contention that the court

erred in ordering that some visitation be supervised by her family is

belied by the record. The mother’s brother testified that he was not

opposed to the mother bringing the children when she visited him every

week or two and that the maternal grandfather was available to

supervise visitation in his home as well.

Finally, we reject the mother’s contention that the court erred

in ordering her to refrain from sending text messages to the children. 

“[T]he evidence in the record supports a determination that . . .

[prohibiting text messaging] contact with the [mother] would be in the

children’s best interests” (Matter of Fletcher v Fletcher, 29 AD3d

908, 909; see Matter of Shockome v Shockome, 53 AD3d 618, 619, lv

denied 11 NY3d 712), and she was not precluded from communicating with

the children in any other manner (cf. Posporelis v Posporelis, 41 AD3d

986, 991).

Entered: October 2, 2015 Frances E. Cafarell

Clerk of the Court