A Sad but Interesting Case, Involving Parental Discipline and Possible Self-Defense

Matter of Corey Mc. v. Tanya Mc. (N.Y. App. Div. Nov. 24):

[T]he mother appeals from an order of disposition of the Family Court, Queens County …, which, upon a … finding that she had neglected the child Corey Mc., and derivatively neglected the child Tyler Mc., placed the children in the custody of the Commissioner of Social Services of Queens County until the completion of the next permanency hearing…

ORDERED that the order of disposition is reversed … and the proceeding is dismissed.

The finding of neglect in this case is based on a single physical confrontation between the mother and her adolescent son, Corey Mc. (hereinafter the son), who at that time was 15 years old and 5 feet 10 inches tall. The evidence in the record established that the mother and the son had a troubled relationship. In this particular incident, the mother confronted the son over what she believed to be a specific instance of inconsiderate behavior, after which she left his room and closed the door. The son came out of his room and directed a stream of profanity-laced invective at the mother, who attempted several times to withdraw from the confrontation. When the son continued his verbal abuse, the mother either punched or slapped him in the face. The incident escalated further, and the son knocked his mother down and continued to curse at her; she got up and hit him on the face with the heel of her shoe, bloodying his nose. The mother then immediately called the police to seek medical attention for the son. The Family Court found that the mother had neglected the son by hitting him with her shoe, and derivatively neglected her then-12-year-old daughter, Tyler Mc., and the Family Court placed the children in the custody of the Commissioner of Social Services of Queens County. The mother contends that the Family Court’s finding of neglect with respect to the son was not supported by a preponderance of the evidence as required by Family Court Act ยง 1046(b)(i). The attorney for the children, who opposed the finding of neglect in the Family Court, agrees with the mother’s position, and so do we.

A “neglected child” is defined as one whose “physical, mental or emotional condition has been impaired or is in imminent danger of becoming impaired as a result of the failure of his parent or other person legally responsible for his care to exercise a minimum degree of care . . . in providing the child with proper supervision or guardianship, by unreasonably inflicting or allowing to be inflicted harm, or a substantial risk thereof.” Although a single incident may sometimes suffice to sustain a finding of neglect, the record does not support such a finding here. Given the age and size of the son, the provocation, and the dynamics of the incident, the mother’s acts, which, as she readily acknowledged, were not an appropriate response to her son’s conduct, did not constitute neglect. Necessarily, then, the Family Court’s further finding that the child Tyler Mc., who witnessed the incident, was derivatively neglected, likewise was not supported by a preponderance of the evidence.

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