Opinion
1999-04106
Argued April 11, 2002.
May 13, 2002.
In a proceeding pursuant to Social Services Law § 384-b to terminate the mother's parental rights on the ground that she is presently and for the foreseeable future unable by reason of mental illness to provide proper and adequate care for the subject child, the mother appeals from an order of fact-finding and disposition of the Family Court, Nassau County (Diamond, J.), dated March 26, 1999, which, after a fact-finding hearing, found that she is unable to provide proper and adequate care for the child by reason of mental illness, terminated her parental rights, and transferred custody and guardianship of the child to the Nassau County Department of Social Services for purposes of adoption.
Anne M. Serby, Long Beach, N.Y., for appellant.
Lorna B. Goodman, County Attorney, Mineola, N.Y. (Tara Talmadge of counsel), for respondent.
Martha S. Weisel, Garden City, N.Y., Law Guardian for the child.
Before: ANITA R. FLORIO, J.P., NANCY E. SMITH, GABRIEL M. KRAUSMAN, SANDRA L. TOWNES, JJ.
ORDERED that the order of fact-finding and disposition is affirmed, without costs or disbursements.
Contrary to the mother's contentions, we find that there was clear and convincing evidence to support the conclusion that she is, by reason of mental illness, presently and for the foreseeable future unable to provide proper and adequate care for her daughter (see Social Services Law § 384-b[c]; Matter of Pariis L., 286 A.D.2d 501, 502; Matter of Laura D., 270 A.D.2d 260, 261; Matter of Virginia Denise R., 249 A.D.2d 400; Matter of Donald B., 151 A.D.2d 477, 478). After interviewing the mother and reviewing the mother's hospital records, a court-appointed psychiatrist testified that the mother suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. He opined that because of the long-term nature of the illness, the severity of the symptoms that have manifested, and the mother's noncompliance with treatment, the child, if returned to the mother, would be at risk of being neglected in the present and in the foreseeable future. This evidence supported the Family Court's findings (see Matter of Pariis L., supra; Matter of Laura D., supra; Matter of Virginia Denise R.; Matter of Donald B., supra).
The Family Court providently exercised its discretion by not conducting a separate dispositional hearing (see Matter of Joyce T., 65 N.Y.2d 39, 46).
FLORIO, J.P., SMITH, KRAUSMAN and TOWNES, JJ., concur.