Matter of Jacob E. (Valerie E.)
2011 NY Slip Op 06717 [87 AD3d 1317]
September 30, 2011
Appellate Division, Fourth Department
As corrected through Wednesday, November 9, 2011


In the Matter of Jacob E., an Infant. Steuben County Department ofSocial Services, Respondent; Valerie E., Appellant.

[*1]Rosemarie Richards, South New Berlin, for respondent-appellant.

James B. Doyle, III, Bath, for petitioner-respondent.

Deetza G. Benno, Attorney for the Child, Bath, for Jacob E.

Appeal from an order of the Family Court, Steuben County (Peter C. Bradstreet, J.), enteredMarch 23, 2010 in a proceeding pursuant to Social Services Law § 384-b. The order,among other things, terminated respondent's parental rights.

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

Memorandum: Respondent mother appeals from an order terminating her parental rights withrespect to her son who is the subject of this proceeding on the ground of permanent neglect andtransferring guardianship and custody to petitioner. We conclude that Family Court properlygranted petitioner's motion pursuant to Family Court Act § 1039-b seeking to be relievedof the requirement that it make reasonable efforts to reunite the child with the mother. Petitionerestablished by the requisite clear and convincing evidence that the parental rights of the motherwith respect to the son's half sibling had been involuntarily terminated (see §1039-b [b] [6]; Matter of Sasha M.,43 AD3d 1401, 1402 [2007], lv denied 10 NY3d 702 [2008]), and that the motherhad repeatedly failed to cooperate with programs intended to address her alcohol, substanceabuse and mental health issues. In response, the mother failed to establish that requiringpetitioner to make reasonable efforts to reunite her with her son "would be in the best interests ofthe child, not contrary to the health and safety of the child, and would likely result in thereunification of [the mother] and the child in the foreseeable future" (§ 1039-b [b]; seealso Sasha M., 43 AD3d at 1402). We have reviewed the mother's remaining contentions andconclude that they are without merit. Present—Smith, J.P., Fahey, Peradotto, Lindley andSconiers, JJ.


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