Split Brooklyn appellate panel cites judge’s erred judgment in Family Court case
A Brooklyn appellate court reversed a family court order, dismissing a mother’s petition to visit her child on the grounds that the mother was denied her right to a hearing.
Jennifer A., a mother of six, agreed to surrender her young son who was later adopted by his foster parents. A provision of the judicial surrender agreement allowed for Jennifer A. to visit her son Jayden A. once every six months under the supervision of at least one adoptive parent.
In November 2012, almost four years after Jayden’s surrender, Jennifer A. petitioned Queens Family Court to enforce her visitation rights for her young child. Two months later, a family court judge called all parties — including Jennifer A., her attorney and the attorney for her son — into court. Without a hearing or listening to oral arguments from either side, the judge summarily dismissed Jennifer’s A. petition, citing a “lengthy neglect case” that served as the basis for the initial order for surrender of parental rights.