Opinion
No. 4587.
March 24, 2011.
Order of disposition, Family Court, New York County (Rhoda J. Cohen, J.), entered on or about June 1, 2009, which, insofar as appealed from as limited by the briefs, upon a finding of permanent neglect, terminated respondent father's parental rights to the subject child and committed custody and guardianship of the child to petitioner agency and the Commissioner of Social Services for purposes of adoption, unanimously modified, on the law and the facts, the disposition as to the child vacated only with respect to her foster care placement, the matter remanded for a determination as to whether placement with the father's cousin would be in the best interests of the child, and otherwise affirmed, without costs.
Julian A. Hertz, Larchmont, for appellant.
Joseph T. Gatti, New York, for respondent.
Lawyers for Children, Inc., New York (Betsy Kramer of counsel), attorney for the child.
Before: Mazzarelli, J.P., Saxe, Friedman, Acosta and Freedman, JJ.
The father does not dispute the court's findings of permanent neglect or the termination of his parental rights. However, he does challenge the determination that it was in the best interests of the child to place her with the foster mother rather than his cousin, whom he proposed as a resource for the child. The record demonstrates that although, at the time the dispositional order was entered, freeing the child to be adopted by her foster mother rather than the cousin was in the child's best interests, changed circumstances since the order was issued warrant remanding the matter to the extent indicated ( see Matter of Mentora Monique B., 44 AD3d 445, 446-447). According to the agency, the child has been hospitalized for hallucinations and exhibited violent tendencies and the foster mother no longer wishes to adopt the child because she believes she is unable to provide the child with the support needed for her mental and emotional issues.