| Matter of Ameena C. (Wykisha C.) |
| 2011 NY Slip Op 03338 [83 AD3d 606] |
| April 28, 2011 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
| In the Matter of Ameena C. and Others, Children Alleged to beNeglected. Wykisha C., Appellant; Administration for Children's Services,Respondent. |
—[*1] Michael A. Cardozo, Corporation Counsel, New York (Pamela Seider Dolgow of counsel),for respondent. Tamara A. Steckler, The Legal Aid Society, New York (Patricia Colella of counsel),Attorney for the Children.
Orders of disposition, Family Court, Bronx County (Sidney Gribetz, J.), entered on or aboutApril 7, 2010, which, upon a fact-finding determination that respondent neglected her two olderchildren and derivatively neglected her two younger children, placed the oldest child in thecustody of the Commissioner of the Administration for Children's Services (ACS) until thecompletion of the next permanency hearing, and released the three younger children torespondent with six months' supervision by ACS, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
The agency demonstrated by a preponderance of the evidence that respondent neglected hertwo older children by inflicting excessive corporal punishment on them (see Matter ofTammie Z., 66 NY2d 1 [1985]; Matter of Alex R. [Maria R.], 81 AD3d 463 [2011]). Thecaseworker testified that the two children told her that respondent struck them both with abroomstick and prodded one child's ear with it, and punched the other child and rammed her headthrough a wall. The caseworker testified further that she observed bruises on both children,including a swollen arm and scabbed ear on one child, and a large hole in the wall of the familyhome. The children's hearsay statements to the caseworker were admissible, because they werecorroborated by the caseworker's observations (see Matter of Nicole V., 71 NY2d 112,118 [1987]; Alex R., 81 AD3d at 463).
By establishing that respondent neglected two of the children by using excessive corporalpunishment on them, petitioner demonstrated respondent's derivative neglect of the other twochildren (Family Ct Act § 1046 [a] [i]; Matter of Terrell H., 197 AD2d 372[1993]). Concur—Gonzalez, P.J., Sweeny, Moskowitz, Acosta and Manzanet-Daniels, JJ.