Opinion
2011-10-25
In re ISIS S.C., A Dependent Child Under the Age of Eighteen Years, etc.,Lamont C., Respondent–Appellant,Administration for Children's Services, Petitioner–Respondent.
Howard M. Simms, New York, for appellant.Michael A. Cardozo, Corporation Counsel, New York (Susan B. Eisner of counsel), for respondent.Tamara A. Steckler, The Legal Aid Society, New York (Diane Pazar of counsel), attorney for the child.
Howard M. Simms, New York, for appellant.Michael A. Cardozo, Corporation Counsel, New York (Susan B. Eisner of counsel), for respondent.Tamara A. Steckler, The Legal Aid Society, New York (Diane Pazar of counsel), attorney for the child.
Order of disposition, Family Court, New York County (Rhoda Cohen, J.), entered on or about January 5, 2010, which, to the extent appealed from, upon a fact-finding that respondent father's consent was not required for the adoption of his daughter, committed the custody and guardianship of the child to petitioner Commissioner of the Administration for Children's Services for the purpose of adoption, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
Respondent's consent to the child's adoption was not required because respondent did not maintain “substantial and continuous or repeated contact with the child” and failed to provide support for her while she was in foster care ( see Domestic Relations Law § 111[1][d]; Matter of Norman Christian K., 60 A.D.3d 542, 876 N.Y.S.2d 365 [2009] ). Respondent was neither relieved of his responsibility to support and maintain regular communication with the child by his repeated incarceration nor excused from paying financial support by the fact that the agency did not instruct him to do so ( Matter of Marc Jaleel G. [Marc E.G.], 74 A.D.3d 689, 905 N.Y.S.2d 160 [2010] ). His belated expressions of interest
in visiting with the child are insufficient after many years in which he had no contact with his child.