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New York Court of Appeals · 2004
3 N.Y.3d 357 (2004)
Witnessing domestic violence is not presumptively neglectful and does not alone justify removing a child from a victimized parent's custody; neglect and removal require a fact-specific showing of actual or imminent harm and a failure to exercise a minimum degree of care, balanced against the child's best interests.
Later courts cite it without significant positive or negative signal.
Treatment last confirmed July 18, 2026. Case-wide subsequent treatment; human-set. Not specific to any one passage.
Children's exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) between caregivers is prospectively associated with elevated internalizing and externalizing problems and other adjustment difficulties; the association is robust across many studies and strengthens over time, but it is modest in magnitude, varies widely across children, and operates substantially through co-occurring maltreatment, impaired caregiving, and maternal mental health rather than as a uniform, direct effect of witnessing alone.
Parental substance use disorder is a moderate risk factor for child maltreatment and for worse developmental, behavioral, and mental-health outcomes, operating largely through impaired, inconsistent, or disengaged caregiving; the risk is graded by severity of use and substance type, is confounded by co-occurring adversity, and substance use alone does not establish maltreatment or parental unfitness.