Matter of Merrick T.
2008 NY Slip Op 07357 [55 AD3d 1318]
October 3, 2008
Appellate Division, Fourth Department
As corrected through Wednesday, December 10, 2008


In the Matter of Merrick T. and Another, Infants. Ontario CountyDepartment of Social Services, Respondent; Susan M.-T., Appellant.

[*1]George R. Wiltsie, Ithaca, for respondent-appellant.

John W. Park, County Attorney, Canandaigua (Holly A. Adams of counsel), forpetitioner-respondent.

Anne S. Galbraith, Law Guardian, Canandaigua, for Merrick T. and Rowan T.

Appeal from an order of the Family Court, Seneca County (Dennis F. Bender, J.), enteredOctober 27, 2006 in a proceeding pursuant to Family Court Act article 10. The order, insofar asappealed from, was entered upon a finding that respondent neglected her two children.

It is hereby ordered that the order so appealed from is unanimously affirmed without costs.

Memorandum: Respondent mother appeals from an order of disposition that, upon a finding thatshe neglected her two children, placed the mother and her children under the supervision of the SenecaCounty Department of Social Services for a period of one year. Contrary to the mother's contention,the finding of neglect is supported by a preponderance of the evidence (see Matter of Stephanie B.,245 AD2d 1062 [1997]). Following the fact-finding hearing, Family Court concluded that themother "unreasonably . . . inflicted harm" upon one of her children (Family Ct Act §1012 [f] [i] [B]), and that the other child was derivatively neglected (see Matter of Michelle M., 52 AD3d1284 [2008]). In reviewing the court's determinations, we must accord great weight and deferenceto them, "including [the court's] drawing of inferences and assessment of credibility," and we will notdisturb those determinations where, as here, they are supported by the record (Matter of Shaylee R., 13 AD3d 1106,1106 [2004]). Present—Martoche, J.P., Smith, Lunn, Pine and Gorski, JJ.


NYPTI Decisions © 2026 is a project of New York Prosecutors Training Institute (NYPTI) made possible by leveraging the work we've done providing online research and tools to prosecutors.

NYPTI would like to thank New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, New York State Senate's Open Legislation Project, New York State Unified Court System, New York State Law Reporting Bureau and Free Law Project for their invaluable assistance making this project possible.

Install the free RECAP extensions to help contribute to this archive. See https://free.law/recap/ for more information.