Mentally Ill Parents Rights (Who Are Unable to Care for Their Children) In New York

In Matter of Sylvia M (82 AD2d 217) the appellate court determined that parents who are mentally ill and who are unable to care for their children for the foreseeable future are a discrete "class" within the larger classification of the mentally ill or retarded parents and, theoretically at least, are readily distinguishable from mentally ill or retarded parents who have neglected their children but are not incapable of caring for their children for the foreseeable future. Parents belonging to the latter categories are placed together with all parents of "normal" intellectual capacity and are entitled to all of the rights and privileges granted to such parents, i.e., a showing of diligent efforts, a burden of proof which remains with the petitioner as to every element of the allegations, a separate dispositional hearing and an opportunity for a suspended judgment.