Court Opinion

ID: 9955208
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-03-27 19:09:54.113072+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:15:20.183937
License: Public Domain

Matter of Troy S.H. (Tianna S.S.) (2024 NY Slip Op 01711)

Matter of Troy S.H. (Tianna S.S.)

2024 NY Slip Op 01711

Decided on March 27, 2024

Appellate Division, Second Department

Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431.

This opinion is uncorrected and subject to revision before publication in the Official Reports.

Decided on March 27, 2024
SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department

MARK C. DILLON, J.P.
FRANCESCA E. CONNOLLY
BARRY E. WARHIT
CARL J. LANDICINO, JJ.

2022-09160
 (Docket No. B-2239-22)

[*1]In the Matter of Troy S. H. (Anonymous). Dutchess County Department of Community and Family Services, appellant; Tianna S. S. (Anonymous), etc., respondent.

Caroline E. Blackburn, County Attorney, Poughkeepsie, NY (Laura Gail Skojec of counsel), for appellant.
Thomas M. Gambino, Poughkeepsie, NY, attorney for the child.

DECISION & ORDER
In a proceeding pursuant to Social Services Law § 384-b, the Dutchess County Department of Community and Family Services appeals from an order of fact-finding and disposition of the Family Court, Dutchess County (Joseph A. Egitto, J.), dated October 21, 2022. The order of fact-finding and disposition, insofar as appealed from, after an inquest, and upon a finding that the mother permanently neglected the subject child, suspended judgment for a period of one year without holding a dispositional hearing.
ORDERED that the order of fact-finding and disposition is reversed insofar as appealed from, on the law, without costs or disbursements, and the matter is remitted to the Family Court, Dutchess County, for a dispositional hearing and a determination thereafter.
The petitioner commenced this proceeding pursuant to Social Services Law § 384-b to terminate the mother's parental rights to the subject child on the ground of permanent neglect. The mother failed to appear at a scheduled court date, and the Family Court scheduled an inquest, which was conducted in the mother's absence. In an order of fact-finding and disposition dated October 21, 2022, the court found that the mother permanently neglected the child, stated that it had sufficient information to issue a dispositional order without any further hearing, and suspended judgment for a period of one year. The petitioner appeals from the dispositional portion of the order.
The Family Court should not have dispensed with the dispositional hearing in the absence of the consent of the parties (see Family Ct Act §§ 625[a]; 631; Matter of Isabella R.W. [Jessica W.], 142 AD3d 503, 504-505; Matter of Imani M., 61 AD3d 870, 871). Accordingly, we remit the matter to the Family Court, Dutchess County, for a dispositional hearing and a determination thereafter.
DILLON, J.P., CONNOLLY, WARHIT and LANDICINO, JJ., concur.
ENTER:
Darrell M. Joseph
Clerk of the Court