Matter of Aida T.M. v Manuel R.T.M. (2021 NY Slip Op 04688) Matter of Aida T.M. v Manuel R.T.M. 2021 NY Slip Op 04688 Decided on August 17, 2021 Appellate Division, Second Department Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. This opinion is uncorrected and subject to revision before publication in the Official Reports. Decided on August 17, 2021 SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department MARK C. DILLON, J.P. PAUL WOOTEN JOSEPH A. ZAYAS LARA J. GENOVESI, JJ. 2021-05644 (Docket No. G-4863-21) [*1]In the Matter of Aida T. M. (Anonymous), appellant, vManuel R. T. M. (Anonymous), respondent. Max Pierre Dubuche, Astoria, NY, for appellant. DECISION & ORDER In a guardianship proceeding pursuant to Family Court Act article 6, the mother appeals from an order of the Family Court, Queens County (Margaret M. Mulrooney, Ct. Atty. Ref.), dated July 15, 2021. The order, after a hearing, dismissed the petition for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. ORDERED that the order is affirmed, without costs or disbursements. The parties are the parents of three children, the eldest of whom (hereinafter the child) is the subject of this proceeding. The child was born in Ecuador in August 2000 and will shortly turn 21 years of age. In 2003, the mother relocated to the United States and left the child in the care of his maternal grandparents in Ecuador. In or around April 2021, the child entered the United States without documentation and, since that time, has been residing with his mother in New York. Thereafter, the mother commenced this proceeding to be appointed guardian of the child and also moved for the issuance of an order making specific findings so as to enable the child to petition the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services for special immigrant juvenile status pursuant to 8 USC § 1101(a)(27)(J). The child executed an affidavit consenting to the mother's petition. In addition, the father executed an affidavit waiving service of process and his appearance at the hearing, and consenting to the mother's petition. In an order dated July 15, 2021, the Family Court, after a hearing, dismissed the mother's petition for guardianship on the ground of lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Pursuant to the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (Domestic Relations Law § 75 et seq.; hereinafter UCCJEA), a New York court has jurisdiction to make an initial child custody determination if New York is the "home state of the child on the date of the commencement of the proceeding, or was the home state of the child within six months before the commencement of the proceeding and the child is absent from this state but a parent or person acting as a parent continues to live in this state" (id. § 76[1][a]). A child's home state is defined, in pertinent part, as "the state in which a child lived with a parent or a person acting as a parent for at least …
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