New York State's Highest Court Says Parents Did Not Neglect Children

May 13, 2012 Daniel Weaver, Albany CPS and Family Court Examiner

Less than a week before Mother's Day, New York State's highest court, the Court of Appeals, reversed a ruling by the Appellate Division, Fourth Judicial Department that had affirmed a decision by Oneida County Family Court Judge Joan E. Shkane, which said that Macquelyn M. and Christopher G. had neglected their two children. Few neglect cases end up in the Court of Appeals, but this one did after the parents appealed the lower court's ruling. The decision by the Court of Appeals was unanimous and simply stated that “The determinations of neglect against Jacquelyn M. and Christopher G. are not supported by legally sufficient evidence,” and offered no further comment.
 
The lower court, however, issued a four page decision on October 7, 2011, most of it taken up by Justice Smith's dissent. Smith was the only justice of the lower court who disagreed with the majority.

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