Tania J. v. Esther J.

OPINION OF THE COURT

Sullivan, J.

Petitioner, the Commissioner of Social Services of the City of New York, appeals from a Family Court order which dismissed child protective proceedings filed against respondent Esther J. for failure to establish by a preponderance of the evidence that she had abused her daughter, Tania, by allowing her live-in boyfriend, respondent Arthur Leon Little, to abuse the child sexually. Petitioner contends that the Family Court, which found that the child had, in fact, been sexually abused, erred in failing to credit Tania’s out-of-court statements that her mother…