On July 9, 2025, HSF Kramer, along with co-counsel Brooklyn Defender Services, secured a victory in the Appellate Division, Second Department, obtaining a reversal for a pro bono client whose parental rights to her oldest child had been terminated by a family court.
In New York, a foster care agency that brings a proceeding to terminate parental rights on the ground of permanent neglect must prove by clear and convincing evidence that it has exercised diligent efforts to encourage and strengthen the relationship between the biological parent and child. Here, HSF Kramer argued that the agency's efforts were insufficient and did not adequately assist the client, a single, working mother. Former Litigation associate Drew Zagami argued the appeal in the Appellate Division, Second Department, which agreed. The Court issued a unanimous decision that held, as HSF Kramer argued, that the agency "failed to meet its initial burden of establishing by clear and convincing evidence that it exercised diligent efforts to strengthen the parental relationship between the mother and the child."
This is a huge win for the client, who now has regained parental rights to her oldest child. It will also be a useful precedent in future cases to argue that an agency must truly make diligent efforts to strengthen a biological parent's relationship with their child before that parent's rights to their child may be terminated.
The HSF Kramer team included Litigation special counsel Karen Steinberg Kennedy, former Litigation associate Drew Zagami and paralegal Angela Chan.