In re Timothy Maurice B.

OPINION OF THE COURT

Harvey M. Sklaver, J.

In this proceeding to terminate the parental rights of Alisa B. as regards her son Timothy Maurice B. the petition alleges two causes of action. The first cause of action is grounded on mental illness (Social Services Law § 384-b [4] [c]).

I

Ms. B. is 24 years of age. She has been a chronic substance abuser, principally of cocaine, since the age of 14 when, by her own admission, she began smoking marihuana. The following year, 1986, at age 15, she began a series of 12 psychiatric hospitalizations at four separate institutions.1 Those institutions have at…