Opinion
July 6, 1993
Appeal from the Family Court, Nassau County (Medowar, J.).
Ordered that the order is affirmed, without costs or disbursements.
The evidence adduced by the petitioner at the fact-finding hearing was sufficient to prove the allegations of sexual abuse by a preponderance of the evidence (see, Family Ct Act § 1046 [b] [i]; Matter of Nicole V., 71 N.Y.2d 112, 117). In a child protective proceeding, unsworn out-of-court statements of the victim, although hearsay, can be admissible, and if properly corroborated by other evidence tending to support their reliability, will support a finding of abuse or neglect under Family Court Act § 1046 (a) (vi) (see, Matter of Nicole V., supra, at 117-118; Matter of Daryl S., 180 A.D.2d 639, 640). A Family Court Judge has considerable discretion in deciding whether the victim's out-of-court statements describing incidents of abuse or neglect have, in fact, been reliably corroborated and whether the record as a whole supports a finding of abuse (see, Matter of Christina F., 74 N.Y.2d 532, 536; Matter of Nicole V., supra, at 119).
In the instant proceeding, the 2-1/2 year old child made out-of-court statements relating to allegations that her father had sexually abused her by engaging in oral contact with her vaginal area. The validation testimony of an expert duly qualified in the area of child sexual abuse as well as the caseworker assigned to the child's case by Child Protective Services constituted sufficient corroboration of the allegations of abuse (see, Matter of Nicole V., supra, at 121; Matter of Justina S., 180 A.D.2d 642; Matter of Linda K., 132 A.D.2d 149). Bracken, J.P., Balletta, Lawrence and Copertino, JJ., concur.