Peter S. v. Cheryl A. S.
The Law Guardian appealed an order from Monroe County Family Court that resolved a visitation dispute by limiting the father to supervised visitation due to a finding of sexual abuse of his daughter. The court's finding relied on the children’s out-of-court statements, the mother’s observations, and her apparent lack of motive to falsify the accusation. The Appellate Court concluded that the Law Guardian failed to preserve her challenge to the court’s consideration of the children’s statements due to a lack of objection to hearsay. Additionally, the Appellate Court rejected the Law Guardian's argument regarding insufficient corroboration, stating that Family Court Act § 1046 (a) (vi) is not applicable to article 6 proceedings, and even if it were, the mother's observations sufficiently corroborated the children's hearsay statements. The order was unanimously affirmed without costs.