Opinion
No. CAF 07-01331.
April 25, 2008.
Appeal from an order of the Family Court, Wyoming County (Michael F. Griffith, J.), entered June 13, 2007 in a proceeding pursuant to Family Court Act article 10. The order, among other things, adjudged that respondent had abused and neglected his child.
CHRISTOPHER J. LARAGY, ROCHESTER, FOR RESPONDENT-APPELLANT.
JANE E. MONAGHAN, WARSAW, FOR PETITIONER-RESPONDENT. TERESA KOWALCZYK, LAW GUARDIAN, WARSAW, FOR BRIANA A.
Present: Centra, J.P., Lunn, Peradotto, Green and Pine, JJ.
It is hereby ordered that the order so appealed from is unanimously affirmed without costs.
Memorandum: On appeal from an order adjudicating his child to be an abused and neglected child, respondent father contends that Family Court erred in relying upon the child's unsworn out-of-court statements in granting the petitions because those statements were not corroborated. We reject that contention ( see generally Family Ct Act § 1046 [a] [vi]; Matter of Nicole V, 71 NY2d 112, 117-118, rearg denied 71 NY2d 890). Although a child's "repetitive statements to various persons do not constitute sufficient corroboration" ( Matter of Kalifa K., 37 AD3d 1180, 1181), "[a]ny other evidence tending to support the reliability of the previous statements" may constitute sufficient corroboration (Family Ct Act § 1046 [a] [vi]). Here, the corroboration requirement was met by "th e child's ageinappropriate knowledge of sexual conduct" ( Matter of Yorimar K.-M., 309 AD2d 1148, 1149), which "demonstrated specific knowledge of sexual activity" ( Nicole V, 71 NY2d at 122).