Case Name: In the Matter of Amanda Maying J. and Others, Children Alleged to be Abandoned. New York Foundling Hospital, Respondent; Anna L., Also Known as Anna L. J., Appellant
Court: New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1994-10-13
Citations: 208 A.D.2d 398
Docket Number: 
Parties: In the Matter of Amanda Maying J. and Others, Children Alleged to be Abandoned. New York Foundling Hospital, Respondent; Anna L., Also Known as Anna L. J., Appellant.
Judges: 
Reporter: Appellate Division Reports
Volume: 208
Pages: 398–399

Head Matter:
In the Matter of Amanda Maying J. and Others, Children Alleged to be Abandoned. New York Foundling Hospital, Respondent; Anna L., Also Known as Anna L. J., Appellant.
[618 NYS2d 210]

Opinion:
Order, Family Court, New York County (Ruth J. Zuckerman, J.), entered March 13, 1992, which, inter alia, granted a petition to terminate respondent's parental rights to the subject children on the ground of abandonment and transferred custody and guardianship to the petitioner agency and the Commissioner of Social Services of the City of New York for purposes of adoption, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
Undisputed testimony that respondent failed to contact the children or the agency for the six-month period immediately preceding the filing of the petition, though able to do so, gave rise to a presumption of abandonment that respondent failed to rebut (Matter of Anthony M., 195 AD2d 315). Moreover, respondent was not prevented from visiting or communicating with the children during the requisite six-month period. Lastly, the court also properly found that termination of parental rights to allow for adoption by the foster mother was in the best interests of the children. Concur—Murphy, P. J., Sullivan, Rosenberger, Nardelli and Tom, JJ.