FAMILY LAW - DERIVATIVE NEGLECT VS. DERIVATIVE ABUSE

MATTER OF NAYOMI M., 147 AD 3d 413 - NY: Appellate Div., 1st Dept. 2017:

"The finding of derivative neglect with respect to the two youngest children was supported by a preponderance of the evidence. The violent and repeated abuse of the oldest children was "so proximate in time to the derivative proceeding that it c[ould] reasonably be concluded that" respondent had "a faulty understanding of the duties of parenthood" and thus that the youngest children's physical or emotional conditions were "in imminent danger of becoming impaired" (Matter of Matthew O. [Kenneth O.], 103 AD3d 67, 76 [1st Dept 2012] [internal quotation marks omitted]). Family Court did not err in finding derivative neglect, rather than derivative abuse. There was no evidence that the youngest child, who was a baby, was ever directly exposed to any of the abuse. Although the second youngest child appears to have been locked in the room with the other children, he was only two years old at the time and was apparently not subjected to many of the more severe forms of abuse perpetrated by respondent."