Matter of Toussaint Thoreau E. (Allen E.) |
2019 NY Slip Op 02157 [170 AD3d 551] |
March 21, 2019 |
Appellate Division, First Department |
Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. |
In the Matter of Toussaint Thoreau E., a Child Alleged to be Abandoned. Allen E., Appellant, et al., Petitioner. |
Tennille M. Tatum-Evans, New York, for appellant.
Dawne A. Mitchell, The Legal Aid Society, New York (Diane Pazar of counsel), attorney for the child.
Order of disposition, Family Court, New York County (Karen I. Lupuloff, J.), entered on or about January 9, 2018, which, inter alia, terminated respondent father's parental rights to the subject child upon a finding of abandonment, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
A finding of abandonment is supported by clear and convincing evidence that the father did not visit with his son or communicate with the agency during the six months immediately preceding the filing of the termination petition, and the absence of evidence that he was unable to so visit or communicate, or was discouraged from doing so by the agency (Social Services Law § 384-b [4] [b]; [5] [a]).
We reject the father's appellate contention that the court erred in terminating his parental rights while the mother's parental rights remained intact. The termination petitions against the father and mother were predicated upon different sets of facts, and the father never requested that the final disposition of his case should be delayed while the mother's case was still pending. He did not oppose the entry of the order terminating his parental rights or seek to vacate it once the mother received a suspended judgment.
The father's constitutional claim was not raised before the Family Court, and is thus unpreserved for review (see Matter of Latrice R., 93 AD2d 838 [2d Dept 1983], lv denied 59 NY2d 604 [1983]). Concur—Friedman, J.P., Renwick, Webber, Kahn, Kern, JJ.