823 N.Y.S.2d 262 | N.Y. App. Div. | 2006
Appeals (1) from an order of the Family Court of Clinton County (Lawliss, J.), entered March 4, 2004, which granted petitioner’s application, in proceeding No. 1 pursuant to Family Ct Act article 6, to modify a prior order of custody, and (2) from an order of said court, entered May 21, 2004, which, inter alia, granted petitioner’s application, in proceeding No. 2 pursuant to Family Ct Act article 6, to modify a prior order of custody.
Each of the two proceedings before us involves a decision of Family Court to transfer legal and physical custody of respondent’s two children, a son (born in 1999) and a daughter (born in 1998), to their respective fathers, petitioners James Roe and Charles Hunt.
Upon our review, we find that Family Court did not err in granting petitioners’ respective applications for custody. To
Of grave concern to Family Court, and this Court as well, was respondent’s demonstrated poor parental judgment in permitting, among other transient individuals, a known sex offender to move into her home.
Similarly, even though yet another order of protection
There is also evidence that respondent, Roe and the children camped out and/or slept in a car for two weeks because she permitted another man, his girlfriend and her two children to occupy her home. While this incident reflected poorly on both parents, it was respondent who permitted these transient individuals to stay in her home at the expense of her own children.
To be sure, Family Court was not unmindful of Roe’s parental shortcomings and specifically noted in the proceeding involving respondent’s son that its decision was “hard” and that Roe was “certainly no prize either.”
With respect to the issue of supervised visitation, itself a much closer call, we note that such determination is also left to Family Court’s sound discretion and it will not be disturbed as long as there is a sound and substantial basis in the record to support it (see Matter of Custer v Slater, 2 AD3d 1227, 1228 [2003]; Matter of Simpson v Simrell, 296 AD2d 621 [2002]; Matter of Kryvanis v Kruty, 288 AD2d 771, 772 [2001]; Matter of Rauschmeier v Rauschmeier, 237 AD2d 702, 703 [1997]). Given respondent’s past conduct in permitting the children to be around convicted sex offenders, once in direct violation of an order of protection prohibiting same (cf Ulmer v Ulmer, 254 AD2d 541, 543-544 [1998], supra), we find no basis to disturb Family Court’s conclusion that limiting her to supervised visitation was in each child’s best interest (see Matter of Custer v Slater, supra; Matter of Simpson v Simrell, supra; Matter of Rauschmeier v Rauschmeier, supra).
Respondent’s remaining contentions, to the extent properly preserved, have been reviewed and found to be unpersuasive.
Cardona, P.J., Mercure, Spain and Mugglin, JJ., concur. Ordered that the orders are affirmed, without costs.
. With respect to the son, respondent and Roe had previously consented to an order which granted them joint custody with physical custody to respondent and liberal visitation to Roe. With respect to the daughter, respondent and Hunt had previously consented to an order which granted sole legal and physical custody to respondent and specified visitation to Hunt.
. Family Court’s precise finding was that respondent’s judgment concerning this issue was “non-existent.”
. The record further reveals that respondent knew that this same individual had been convicted of assaulting his wife, which resulted in an order of protection against him. Despite knowledge of both facts—the prior assault and the intact order of protection—respondent saw no problem in being in their mutual presence. While respondent correctly notes that she was not a party
. To this end, we note that both children spent a considerable amount of time with their respective fathers.
. Her excuse for moving out of her own house was that she could not see those children living “on the street.”
. Family Court found Hunt, on the other hand, to be a very credible, hardworking person with a stable lifestyle, close relationship with his daughter and good parental traits.