In a decision published yesterday, A Bronx County family court judge has ordered New York City's Administration of Children's Services (ACS) to file a termination of parental rights petition against a mother and father who have been involved with ACS for ten years and have had five petitions filed against them during that time.
The parents, Sonia R. and Larry W., have had their children removed a number of times and placed in foster care. During the years that the couple has been involved in child protective proceedings, the mother has given birth to more children. The couple now have seven children.
The litany of alleged complaints against the couple is long and includes drug use, domestic violence and educational neglect. Currently, the couple cannot account for the $4,000 grant they were given to buy furniture.
In its decision the court stated, "Unlike the biological parent in Dale P., Sonia and Larry have not abandoned Marilyn, Larice, Sonia, Jeremiah and Larry Jr. The parents have not disappeared from their children's lives but have instead failed to remain drug and alcohol free, failed to consistently visit with the children in foster care, failed to attend medical, educational and mental health appointments, failed to maintain stable housing and failed to recognize the distress they have caused their offspring by such conduct over so many years. ACS and its contract agencies have continuously offered services to the Respondents, and, for their part, Sonia and Larry have at times accepted such services and demonstrated their ability to comply. Permanency, however, will never be achieved for these children if they continue to languish in foster care and if releases or trial discharges to their parents continue to fail. The Legislature's stated intent, shared by the Family Court, that the subject children should grow up with a normal family life in a permanent home, becomes more difficult to achieve each day the children remain in foster care, each time they are moved to a new foster home and each time the Respondents fail to comply with court mandates. "
For this reason, the court ordered that ACS file to terminate the parental rights with regard to five of the couple's children.
Comments
Ten years of not working their plan - isn't that illegal? It's about time they were ordered to file, but who is looking out for the rest of the children languishing in foster care without permanency?
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