Court Opinion

ID: 9875286
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-26 22:29:23.522949+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:46:59.016026
License: Public Domain

Sweeny, J.P.,
dissents in a memorandum as follows: The question before this Court is whether there was a rational basis for the Family Court to deny the request for unsupervised visitation. The child has been in foster care most of his life, removed from respondent father because of founded neglect. The child is with a loving family that is ready to adopt him. A termination of parental rights proceeding has been commenced.
Should respondent, who currently has supervised visitation, by some circumstance regain custody, the child’s relationship with him can be readjusted to accommodate this. However, should the permanency proceeding result in his parental rights being terminated and the child freed for adoption, all the majority will have done will be to confuse and disorient this child by encouraging him to develop a deeper attachment to a person whose relationship with him will in all likelihood end. This can hardly be seen as being in the child’s best interest.
The Family Court has had the parties before it and has lived with the case for a considerable period of time. Although the majority may disagree with the result, it cannot be said that the court’s decision lacks a rational basis.
I would affirm.