In re Alyshia M.R.
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Appeals from an order of the Family Court, Monroe County (Gail A. Donofrio, J.), entered February 16, 2007 in a proceeding pursuant to Social Services Law § 384-b. The order, among other things, adjudged that the subject children are permanently neglected and committed guardianship and custody of the children to petitioner.
It is hereby ordered that the order so appealed from is unanimously affirmed without costs.
Memorandum: Respondent parents appeal from an order of disposition that, upon a finding of permanent neglect, terminated their parental rights with respect to the four children at issue in this proceeding, committed guardianship and custody of the children to petitioner, and freed the children for adoption. Respondent mother is the biological parent of the four children, and respondent father is the biological parent of the youngest three of the four children. The putative father of the oldest child voluntarily surrendered his rights to the oldest child prior to the commencement of this proceeding.
We reject at the outset the contention of the father that Family Court erred in adjudicating his three children to be
We further reject the fatherās contention that the court erred in admitting in evidence at the fact-finding hearing certain records concerning, inter alia, his drug rehabilitation. Those records were admissible under the business records exception to the hearsay rule (see CPLR 4518; Matter of Noemi D., 43 AD3d 1303, 1304 [2007], lv denied 9 NY3d 814 [2007]), and we are unable to review the fatherās contention on appeal that the records contain double hearsay because the father has failed to identify any alleged instances of double hearsay. In any event, even assuming; arguendo, that the records were improperly admitted, we conclude that āthe result reached herein would have been the same even had such record[s], or portions thereof, been excludedā (Matter of Saffert, 57 AD2d 758 [1977], lv denied 42 NY2d 806 [1977], rearg denied 42 NY2d 1015 [1977]; cf. Matter of Leon RR., 48 NY2d 117, 122-124 [1979]).
In addition, we reject the contentions of the parents that the court abused its discretion in terminating their parental rights and in refusing to issue a suspended judgment (see Matter of Dominique A.W., 17 AD3d 1038, 1039 [2005], lv denied 5 NY3d 706 [2005]). The courtās determination at the dispositional hearing is entitled to great deference, particularly because it depended in large part on the courtās assessment of the credibility of the witnesses (see e.g. Matter of Nathaniel T., 67 NY2d 838, 842 [1986]; Matter of Irene O., 38 NY2d 776, 777 [1975]). As the court properly determined, the evidence presented at the dispositional hearing established that there was no reason for ā āfurther prolongation of the child[ren]ās unsettled familial statusā ā (Matter of Arella D.P.-D., 35 AD3d 1222, 1223 [2006], lv denied 8 NY3d 809 [2007]).
The parents failed to preserve for our review their contentions that the absence of information concerning the childrenās wishes requires reversal (see Ciesinski v Town of Aurora, 202 AD2d 984, 985 [1994]). In any event, although āthe Law Guardian should have informed the court of the child[ren]ās wishes pursuant to the Guidelines for Law Guardians in the Fourth Department, the Law Guardianās failure to do so did not prevent the court from considering the child[ren]ās best interestsā (Mat
We have considered the remaining contentions of the parents and conclude that they are without merit. PresentāScudder, P.J., Lunn, Fahey, Pine and Gorski, JJ.