Opinion ID: 2227102
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Emergency Removal Without Court Order

Text: Finally, section 1024 provides for emergency removals without a court order. The section permits removal without a court order and without consent of the parent if there is reasonable cause to believe that the child is in such urgent circumstance or condition that continuing in the home or care of the parent presents an imminent danger to the child's life or health, and there is not enough time to apply for an order under section 1022 (Family Ct Act § 1024 [a]; see generally Matter of Joseph DD. , 300 AD2d 760, 761 n 1 [3d Dept 2002] [noting that removal under such emergency circumstances requires the filing of an Article 10 petition forthwith and prompt court review of the nonjudicial decision pursuant to Family Ct Act § 1026 (c) and § 1028]; see also Matter of Karla V. , 278 AD2d 159 [1st Dept 2000]). Thus, emergency removal is appropriate where the danger is so immediate, so urgent that the child's life or safety will be at risk before an ex parte order can be obtained. The standard obviously is a stringent one. Section 1024 establishes an objective test, whether the child is in such circumstance or condition that remaining in the home presents imminent danger to life or health [12] . In construing imminent danger under section 1024, it has been held that whether a child is in imminent danger is necessarily a fact-intensive determination. It is not required that the child be injured in the presence of a caseworker nor is it necessary for the alleged abuser to be present at the time the child is taken from the home. It is sufficient if the officials have persuasive evidence of serious ongoing abuse and, based upon the best investigation reasonably possible under the circumstances, have reason to fear imminent recurrence ( Gottlieb v County of Orange , 871 F Supp 625, 628-629 [SD NY 1994], citing Robison v Via , 821 F2d 913, 922 [2d Cir 1987]). The Gottlieb court added that, [s]ince this evidence is the basis for removal of a child, it should be as reliable and thoroughly examined as possible to avoid unnecessary harm to the family unit  (871 F Supp at 629). Section 1024 concerns, moreover, only the very grave circumstance of danger to life or health. While we cannot say, for all future time, that the possibility can never exist, in the case of emotional injuryor, even more remotely, the risk of emotional injurycaused by witnessing domestic violence, it must be a rare circumstance in which the time would be so fleeting and the danger so great that emergency removal would be warranted. [13]