| Matter of Roberto A. (Altagracia A.) |
| 2010 NY Slip Op 04049 [73 AD3d 501] |
| May 11, 2010 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
| In the Matter of Roberto A., an Infant. Altagracia A., Appellant;New York Foundling Hospital, Respondent. |
—[*1] Quinlan & Fields, Hawthorne (Jeremiah Quinlan of counsel), for respondent. Tamara A. Steckler, The Legal Aid Society, New York (Diane Pazar of counsel), LawGuardian.
Order, Family Court, Bronx County (Douglas Hoffman, J.), entered on or about July 1, 2009,which, upon a finding of mental illness, terminated respondent's parental rights to the subjectchild and committed the child's custody and guardianship to petitioner agency and theCommissioner of Social Services of the City of New York for the purpose of adoption,unanimously affirmed, without costs.
Unrebutted expert psychiatric testimony, together with medical and agency records,constitute clear and convincing evidence that respondent suffers from paranoid schizophreniarendering her unable to properly and adequately care for her special-needs child presently andfor the foreseeable future (see Matter ofGenesis S. [Irene Elizabeth S.], 70 AD3d 570 [2010]; Matter of Loretta C., 32 AD3d764 [2006]). In cases of termination of parental rights by reason of mental illness, there is norequirement that the agency show that it made diligent efforts to reunite the child with the parent(Matter of Jon C., 305 AD2d 592, 593 [2003]; Matter of Belinda S., 189 AD2d679 [1993], lv denied 81 NY2d 706 [1993]). Concur—Tom, J.P., Sweeny,Moskowitz, DeGrasse and Manzanet-Daniels, JJ.