Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2017

Matter of Kenneth C. (Gertrude B.)

Matter of Kenneth C. (Gertrude B.)
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York · Decided March 8, 2017 · Mastro, Leventhal, Barros, Nelson
2017 NY Slip Op 1687; 148 A.D.3d 799; 48 N.Y.S.3d 749
Matter of Kenneth C. (Gertrude B.)

Opinion

*800 Appeal by the mother from an order of fact-finding and disposition of the Family Court, Suffolk County (Caren Loguercio, J.), dated March 4, 2016. The order, made after a fact-finding hearing, inter alia, found that the mother neglected the subject children. The notice of appeal from an order of fact-finding also dated March 4, 2016, is deemed to be a notice of appeal from the order of fact-finding and disposition (see CPLR 5512 [a]).

Ordered that the order of fact-finding and disposition is affirmed, without costs or disbursements.

The Family Court’s finding of neglect is supported by a preponderance of the evidence (see Family Ct Act §§ 1012 [f] [i] [B]; 1046 [a] [iii]; [b] [i]; Matter of Audrey K. [Erik K.], 108 AD3d 717 [2013]). Contrary to the mother’s contention, the evidence adduced at the fact-finding hearing of her repeated misuse of drugs and alcohol, her repeated positive drug tests for marijuana and cocaine, and her failure to regularly attend a substance abuse treatment program established a prima facie case of neglect (see Family Ct Act § 1046 [a] [iii]). Therefore, neither actual impairment of the children’s physical, mental, or emotional condition, nor specific risk of impairment, needed to be established (see Matter of Audrey K. [Erik K.], 108 AD3d 717 [2013]; Matter of Sadiq H. [Karl H.], 81 AD3d 647 [2011]). Accordingly, the court properly found that the mother neglected the children.

Mastro, J.P., Leventhal, Barros and Brathwaite Nelson, JJ., concur.

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.