Matter of Corey

In Matter of Corey, 184 Misc 2d 437 (Fam Ct, Greene County 1999), the prospective adoptive father had been convicted fifteen years earlier, at age 21, of armed robbery, a violent felony. The court had to determine whether Social Services Law 378-a (2) (e) (1), which governs agency adoptions but which contains language identical to Domestic Relations Law 115-d (3-a) (b), mandated denial of the prospective father's application. While the court noted that petitioner had been "engaged in a life of alcohol and drugs at the time of his conviction" (id. at 441) the court also recognized that applicant had subsequently decided to change his life, and did so with the help of Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, and the mental health services available to him in prison. The record reflected that the prospective adoptive father had no reported problems after his release from prison. When his application came before the court, the applicant had been sober for 10 years and drug-free even longer. The court found that the prospective father had "fully rehabilitated himself from his long-ago life of crime and is a positive role model" for the children he sought to adopt (id. at 445).