Intellectual Disabilities and Family Court Representation Webinar

The National Research Center for Parents with Disabilities is sponsoring a free webinar for attorneys who represent parents with intellectual disabilities in family court proceedings on Wednesday, February 21 from 2:00-3:00 pm.

Issues to be addressed include the application of disability law in the child welfare system and strategies for best representing those parents.

For more information about the webinar and how to register, please click here.

New York law to encourage contact between siblings separated because of abuse and neglect cases.

New York State has enacted a law that confers standing to a child and others to petition the court to order visitation with siblings, including half-siblings, when a child is removed from the home pursuant to a Family Court Act article 10 (allegations of abuse or neglect) proceeding.

The law amends several sections in Family Court Act article 10 and Social Services Law 384-b. It addresses the statutory silence on the rights of siblings to have contact with one another if they are removed from the home and not placed together.

The law goes into effect Nov. 16, 2016. A copy of the law is available here.

Because All Families Matter: Enhancing Parental Defense in New York.

This first of its kind event, offered at the Hilton Albany, will bring together attorneys, social workers, and advocates to exchange information and ideas useful to all providers who represent and assist parents in New York Family Court Article 10 Proceedings.

The three-day event is collaborative partnership between NYSDA, the State Office of Indigent Legal Services, and the New York State Unified Court System Child Welfare Court Improvement Project. It is scheduled to be held November 13-14, 2015.

State appellate court upholds permanent neglect by incarcerated father

Albany—An upstate appellate court has upheld a Tompkins County Family Court ruling that terminated the parental rights of a convicted felon and freed his children for adoption.

 

 In a decision released Thursday (November 29, 2012), the New York State Supreme Court’s Appellate Division held that the Tompkins County Department of Social Services (“DSS) had made “diligent efforts to encourage and strengthen [the father’s] relationship with his children,” and affirmed the decision of the local Family Court that held the father had permanently neglected his children.

According to the decision, the father is in state prison for “attempted assault in the first degree,” and will not be eligible for parole until October 2013.  In January 2010, the decision notes, the children (born in 2002 and 2003) were removed from their mother's home on neglect allegations and placed in DSS custody.

After the children were placed, the court held, the children’s caseworker provided the father with permanency reports and information about his rights and responsibilities, facilitated written correspondence between him and the children, and sent him photographs and sought his recommendations for a home for the children while he was in jail.  However, the father’s recommendations proved unsuitable, the court said.

“[W]hen his relatives were rejected, the only alternative he was able to propose was his homeless

girlfriend, who apparently had no relationship with the children,” the court wrote.

In addition, the court rejected the father’s argument that the DSS should have brought the children to his prison for visits, given their ages, emotional concerns, and the distance between the prison and their foster homes.

DSS “proved by clear and convincing evidence that it made affirmative, repeated and meaningful

efforts” on behalf of the father and the children, the court ruled.  Therefore, it upheld the Family Court’s ruling.

The real names of the father and the children were not released in the court order, to protect their privacy.

The father was represented in the appeal by Ithaca attorney Pamela B. Bleiwas.  The DSS was represented by Joseph Cassidy.  Ovid attorney Steven J. Getman was attorney for the children.

The complete court decision can be found here.

Court of Appeals Issues New Decisions.

New York State’s highest court has issued a number of decisions this week on civil and criminal law.

The cases cover a number of issues, including what constitutes effective assistance of counsel, possible child neglect, the proper disposition of a juvenile delinquency case and time limits for lawsuits involving alleged negligence by a school board member.

The decisions are available to the public and can be found at the court’s website.