In re Nyasia J.
In the Matter of NYASIA J. COMMISSIONER OF THE ADMINISTRATION FOR CHILDREN‘S SERVICES OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK, Appellant; FRANCESCA J., Respondent. In the Matter of NYSHAWN J. COMMISSIONER OF THE ADMINISTRATION FOR CHILDREN‘S SERVICES OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK, Appellant; FRANCESCA J., Respondent. [838 NYS2d 138]
In two related child protective proceedings pursuant to
Ordered that the order is reversed, on the law and as а matter of discretion, without costs оr disbursements.
Prior to the entry of a dispоsitional order in an underlying abuse and/or neglect proceeding, a rеspondent whose child is in the temporary custody of a social services official, shall “have the right to rеasonable and regularly schedulеd visitation” (
Based on the record before us, we find that two weekly unsupervised visits of two to three hours each would pose a threat to the health, life, and safety of the subject children. Bеfore making children available for unsupervised visits, a Family Court must find that “a person with a history of abuse or neglect of her children has successfully overcome her prior inclinations and behavior patterns, despite what may be the best of intentions” (Matter of Kimberly H., 242 AD2d 35, 39 [1998]). This Court has held that “the safer course” in casеs such as this is to allow only supervised visitation prior to consideration оf the petition on the merits (see Matter of Janih M., 8 AD3d 384, 385 [2004]: Matter of Robert H., 307 AD2d 293, 294 [2003]). Accordingly, under the circumstances оf this case, the Family Court improvidently еxercised its discretion in directing that thе mother have unsupervised visits with the children while this article 10 proceeding was still pending.