Family courts can place a child who’s been removed from her custodial parent’s home in New York with a noncustodial, out-of-state parent, if the latter’s home is suitable, the state Court of Appeals said Tuesday in a unanimous ruling that limits an interstate agreement for foster care and preliminary adoption that had overreached into familial blood lines.
According to the opinion written by Acting Chief Judge Anthony Cannataro, the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children states clearly that it should only be applied to foster care and preliminary adoptive homes, and not the child’s out-of-state parent.
