IN RE: S.A. (2025)

Order of fact-finding and disposition (one paper), Family Court, Bronx County (E. Grace Park, J.), entered on or about October 31, 2023, which, to the extent appealed from as limited by the briefs, determined, after a fact-finding hearing, that respondent mother neglected the subject child, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

A preponderance of the evidence supports the finding that the mother neglected the child by inflicting excessive corporal punishment on her (Family Court Act §§ 1012[f][i][B];  1046[b][i]).  Family Court properly credited the child's out-of-court statements that the mother hit, punched, dragged, pulled, and threw the child to the ground after the child refused to give the mother a hug, which the child consistently repeated to the police, EMT, and medical professionals who treated her injuries.  Although the child's repetition of the statements alone is not sufficient corroboration, the child's consistent recounting of events to more than one person enhances their credibility (see Family Court Act § 1046[a][vi];  Matter of Emily S. [Jorge S.], 146 A.D.3d 599, 600, 44 N.Y.S.3d 743 [1st Dept. 2017]).

Family Court properly determined that the child's statements were corroborated by other evidence in the record, including the aunt's statement in the hospital records, which were independently admissible because they were relevant to her treatment, diagnosis, and discharge and therefore fall within the medical diagnosis and treatment exception to hearsay (see Family Court Act § 1046[a][vi];  People v. Ortega, 15 N.Y.3d 610, 619, 917 N.Y.S.2d 1, 942 N.E.2d 210 [2010];  Matter of E.H. [M.H.], 209 A.D.3d 582, 583, 176 N.Y.S.3d 633 [1st Dept. 2022]).  The child's statements were also corroborated by the injuries themselves (see e.g. Matter of Yvelize T., 302 A.D.2d 242, 242, 754 N.Y.S.2d 531 [1st Dept. 2003]).  By contrast, as the court correctly observed, the mother's version of events, in which the child was the aggressor, fails to account for the child's injuries, which required an arm sling for treatment (see Matter of Krystopher D'A. [Amakoe D'A.], 121 A.D.3d 484, 485, 994 N.Y.S.2d 107 [1st Dept. 2014]).  In these circumstances, there is no basis to disturb Family Court's credibility determinations (Matter of Yvelize T., 302 A.D.2d at 242, 754 N.Y.S.2d 531).

Furthermore, Family Court's finding of neglect was properly predicated on a single incident (see Matter of Robann H. [Autumn P.], 221 A.D.3d 502, 503, 198 N.Y.S.3d 352 [1st Dept. 2023]).  Although the mother has a common-law right to discipline her child, here, the discipline of hitting, punching, dragging, and throwing the child “was not appropriate in form or degree” (Matter of Empress B. [Henrietta L.], 204 A.D.3d 562, 563, 165 N.Y.S.3d 298 [1st Dept. 2022]).

We have considered the mother's remaining contentions and find them unavailing.