Opinion
12278 12278A Dkt. No. B-19051-52/17 Case No. 2019-5909
11-05-2020
IN RE RAEYDAN D.E.C., and Another, Children Under Eighteen Years of Age, etc., Kevin C., Respondent-Appellant, v. St. Dominic's Family Services, et al., Petitioners-Respondents, Laurel McC., Respondent.
Richard L. Herzfeld, P.C., New York (Richard L. Herzfeld of counsel), for appellant. Warren & Warren PC, Brooklyn (Ira L. Eras of counsel), for respondent. George E. Reed, Jr., White Plains, attorney for the children.
Richard L. Herzfeld, P.C., New York (Richard L. Herzfeld of counsel), for appellant.
Warren & Warren PC, Brooklyn (Ira L. Eras of counsel), for respondent.
George E. Reed, Jr., White Plains, attorney for the children.
Acosta, P.J., Singh, Kennedy, Shulman, JJ.
Order, Family Court, Bronx County (Fiordaliza A. Rodriguez, J.), entered on or about July 1, 2019, which denied respondent-father's motion to vacate an order of disposition, same court and Judge, entered on or about March 25, 2019, which, upon a finding of permanent neglect, terminated, upon his default, his parental rights to the subject children and committed the custody and guardianship of the subject children to petitioner, unanimously affirmed, without costs. Appeal from the March 25, 2019 order, unanimously dismissed, without costs, as taken from a non-appealable order.
To the extent the father appeals from the permanent neglect finding set forth in the dispositional order, the appeal must be dismissed as no appeal lies from an order entered on default (see Matter of Miguel L. v. Ashley J.L., 177 A.D.3d 476, 477, 114 N.Y.S.3d 291 [1st Dept. 2019] ).
The court providently exercised its discretion in denying the father's request for an adjournment of the fact-finding hearing (see Matter of Winfield v. Gammons, 105 A.D.3d 753, 754, 963 N.Y.S.2d 272 [2d Dept. 2013] ).
In support of his motion to vacate his default, the father failed to demonstrate a reasonable excuse for the default and a potentially meritorious defense to the petition to terminate his parental rights ( CPLR 5015[a][1] ; see Matter of Messiah G. [Giselle F.], 168 A.D.3d 420, 91 N.Y.S.3d 43 [1st Dept. 2019], lv dismissed in part, denied in part 32 N.Y.3d 1212, 98 N.Y.S.3d 755, 122 N.E.3d 553 [2019] ). The father failed to provide any details or documentation to support his claim that he was ill on the date of the hearing (see Matter of Devon Dupree F., 298 A.D.2d 103, 747 N.Y.S.2d 501 [1st Dept. 2002] ).
The father also failed to demonstrate that he adequately planned for the children (see Matter of Tyshawn S. [Shana S.], 143 A.D.3d 990, 992, 39 N.Y.S.3d 508 [2d Dept. 2016] ) and that it was not in the children's best interests to terminate his parental rights and free them for adoption by their long-term foster parents (see Matter of Star Leslie W., 63 N.Y.2d 136, 147–148, 481 N.Y.S.2d 26, 470 N.E.2d 824 [1984] ).