| Matter of Taliya G. (Jeannie M.) |
| 2009 NY Slip Op 08483 [67 AD3d 546] |
| November 19, 2009 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
| In the Matter of Taliya G. and Another, Children Alleged to beNeglected. Jeannie M., Appellant; Administration for Children's Services,Respondent. |
—[*1] Michael A. Cardozo, Corporation Counsel, New York (Mordecai Newman of counsel), forrespondent. Karen Freedman, Lawyers for Children, Inc., New York (Hal Silverman of counsel), LawGuardian.
Order of disposition, Family Court, New York County (Jane Pearl, J.), entered on or aboutOctober 30, 2008, which, upon a fact-finding determination that respondent mother neglected thesubject children, placed the children in the custody of petitioner Commissioner of SocialServices of New York County until the completion of a permanency hearing scheduled forJanuary 15, 2009, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
There is no basis for rejecting the court's finding, based on its credibility determinations (see Matter of Nakym S., 60 AD3d578 [2009]), that respondent knew or should have known of her live-in boyfriend's drugbusiness but nevertheless allowed him to reside in the apartment with her seven-year-old son,who had access to the drugs stored in the dresser in his bedroom (see Matter of Roy R., 6 AD3d 213[2004]; Matter of Michael R., 309 AD2d 590 [2003]). In Matter of Hiram V.(162 AD2d 453 [1990]), on which respondent relies, it was found that there was no imminentrisk of harm because the mother was estranged from the father and credibly denied knowledge ofthe presence of narcotics.
There was no need for a delegation of authority for the laboratory report analyzing the drugs,because the report was not a hospital or private agency record "relating to a child" (seeFamily Ct Act § 1046 [a] [iv]). There were reasonable assurances of the identity andunchanged condition of the drugs (seePeople v Valdez, 41 AD3d 316 [2007], lv denied 9 NY3d 883 [2007]; People v Epps, 8 AD3d 85 [2004],lv denied 3 NY3d 673 [2004]).
The finding of derivative neglect with respect to the younger child, an infant, is supported bythe evidence of neglect with respect to the older child, which demonstrates "such an impairedlevel of parental judgment as to create a substantial risk of harm for any child in [respondent's][*2]care" (Matter of Joshua R., 47 AD3d 465, 466 [2008], lv denied11 NY3d 703 [2008]). In addition, evidence showed that the seven year old had access to thedrugs and could have given them to the infant; petitioner was not required to demonstrate thatthe children were left together unsupervised. Concur—Tom, J.P., Friedman, Moskowitz,Freedman and Abdus-Salaam, JJ.