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IN RE: GUARDIANSHIP, etc., MIA TRACY–NELLIE G., etc., et al., Children Under the Age of Eighteen Years, etc., Debbie P., Respondent–Appellant, Little Flower Children's Services, Petitioner–Respondent.
Orders of disposition, Family Court, New York County (Jody Adams, J.), entered on or about October 31, 2000, terminating respondent's parental rights to the subject children and transferring their guardianship and custody to petitioner agency and the Commissioner of Social Services for the purposes of adoption, upon a fact-finding determination of permanent neglect, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
The finding of permanent neglect is supported by clear and convincing evidence that respondent failed to visit the children at all for more than four months prior to the filing of the petition, that her visits before that were sporadic and frequently marked by lateness, and that she resisted the agency's persistent and diligent efforts to have her complete the drug rehabilitation and parenting skills programs deemed necessary to correct the problems that led to the children's placement (see Matter of Keisha LeKeya D., 294 A.D.2d 161, 741 N.Y.S.2d 410). Family Court also properly terminated respondent's parental rights rather than order a suspended judgment, there being no evidence of a realistic plan to provide an adequate and stable home for the children (see Matter of Latasha W., 268 A.D.2d 340, 701 N.Y.S.2d 418), and in view of respondent's failure for more than four years to comply with the agency's requirements (see Matter of Lauren Annette McL., 270 A.D.2d 102, 705 N.Y.S.2d 38, lv. denied 95 N.Y.2d 755, 711 N.Y.S.2d 833, 733 N.E.2d 1102).
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Decided: November 12, 2002
Court: Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department, New York.
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