IN RE: CUSTODY AND GUARDIANSHIP OF MATTHEW O. (1997)

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department, New York.

IN RE: CUSTODY AND GUARDIANSHIP OF MATTHEW O., A Dependent Child Under the Age of Eighteen Years, Carmen O., etc., Respondent–Appellant, Leake & Watts Children's Services, Petitioner–Respondent.

Decided: February 20, 1997

Before SULLIVAN, J.P., and ELLERIN, TOM and ANDRIAS, JJ.

Jane Truehold, for Matthew O. Gerald Schwartz, for Respondent–Appellant. Marilyn L. Zarrello, for Petitioner–Respondent.

Order of disposition, Family Court, New York County (Sheldon Rand, J.), entered May 19, 1995, inter alia, terminating respondent's parental rights to the subject child upon a finding of permanent neglect, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

Permanent neglect was established by clear and convincing evidence that respondent made no contact or inquiry about the child during his first two months of his life, when he was hospitalized for cocaine toxicity, showed no interest in visiting him until 11 months after he was placed in foster care, displayed no inclination to overcome her severe drug addiction, and deliberately resisted petitioner agency's efforts to establish and promote contact with the child and to engage her in planning for his future (see, Matter of Yesenia D., 198 A.D.2d 109, 603 N.Y.S.2d 468; Matter of William J., 228 A.D.2d 315, 644 N.Y.S.2d 226). At the dispositional hearing, petitioner established that termination of respondent's parental rights for the purpose of adoption was in the child's best interests.

MEMORANDUM DECISION.

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