Opinion
October 19, 1992
Appeal from the Family Court, Rockland County (Stanger, J.).
Ordered that the order is affirmed, without costs or disbursements.
It is well settled that when a child-care agency has custody of a child and brings a proceeding to terminate parental rights on the ground of permanent neglect, it must prove by clear and convincing evidence that it exercised diligent efforts to strengthen the parental relationship and to reunite the family (see, Matter of Star Leslie W., 63 N.Y.2d 136; Matter of Sheila G., 61 N.Y.2d 368; Matter of Erica J., 154 A.D.2d 595). "Those efforts must include counseling, making suitable arrangements for visitation, providing assistance to the parents to resolve or ameliorate the problems preventing discharge of the child to their care and advising the parent at appropriate intervals of the child's progress and development (Social Services Law, § 384-b, subd 7, par [f])" (Matter of Star Leslie W., supra, at 142).
The record establishes that the child-care agency fulfilled its statutory duty to exercise diligent efforts to strengthen the parental relationship and reunite this family. Moreover, notwithstanding the mother's claims to the contrary, we also find that she has substantially and repeatedly failed to maintain contact with and plan for the future of the four children. Thus, the Family Court properly terminated the mother's parental rights. O'Brien, J.P., Copertino, Pizzuto and Santucci, JJ., concur.