Opinion
July 12, 1996
Appeal from the Jefferson County Family Court, Hunt, J.
Present — Denman, P.J., Pine, Callahan, Balio and Davis, JJ.
Order unanimously affirmed without costs. Memorandum: Respondent appeals from an order of disposition adjudging Lakeesha R., his 14-year-old daughter, to be an abused child and, by reason of that abuse, adjudging his other three daughters to be neglected children. There is no merit to his contention that petitioner failed to corroborate Lakeesha's out-of-court statements. Lakeesha's mother testified that she told investigators that she saw respondent lying naked in bed with Lakeesha and that Lakeesha was wearing only a T-shirt pulled above her breasts. That testimony and the testimony of a validation expert corroborate the child's out-of-court statements ( see, Matter of Nicole V., 71 N.Y.2d 112; Matter of Chendo O., 193 A.D.2d 1083; Matter of Skye B., 185 A.D.2d 880).
Petitioner sustained its burden of proving by a preponderance of evidence that respondent sexually abused Lakeesha. The fact that Lakeesha recanted her initial out-of-court statements does not render those statements incredible as a matter of law ( see, Matter of N. G. Children, 176 A.D.2d 504). Family Court, based principally upon the validator's testimony, credited Lakeesha's initial out-of-court statements, and there is no basis in this record to disturb the court's resolution of credibility issues ( see, Matter of Karrie B., 207 A.D.2d 1002, lv denied 84 N.Y.2d 812; Matter of Skye B., supra, at 881).