## Facts

- Ilone I. was a 15-year-old girl who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and found to need psychiatric treatment.
- The Family Court ordered Ilone’s placement at the New York State Training School.
- The placement order required the training school to:
  - provide psychiatric treatment to Ilone,
  - submit periodic progress reports to the court, and
  - before accepting the placement, tell the court if it could not provide those services.
- The training school accepted Ilone’s placement.
- After accepting custody, the school’s superintendent wrote to the court stating that the school did not provide psychiatric services to juveniles in its care.
- The superintendent also stated that the school would not provide progress reports to the court unless Ilone experienced another schizophrenic episode.
- After receiving the superintendent’s letter, the court directed Ilone’s guardian to move to terminate the placement because the school could not meet the conditions of the court’s order.
- At the hearing on the guardian’s motion, the school psychiatrist testified that he performed diagnostic evaluations for residents but did not provide psychiatric treatment.
- The psychiatrist also testified that, in his opinion, Ilone did not require psychiatric care.
- The court learned at the hearing that the training school had released Ilone to her mother.

## Issues

1. May a juvenile placement continue when the receiving institution accepted placement but then refused to provide court-ordered psychiatric treatment and periodic reports?
2. Does the Family Court have authority to end or change a placement when noncompliance with express conditions defeats the purpose of the dispositional order?

## Decision

- The court granted the guardian’s request to terminate the placement in the training school after concluding the school would not carry out the treatment and reporting conditions in the placement order.
- The court treated the school’s refusal to provide ordered services—after accepting custody—as incompatible with the continued validity of the placement as ordered.
- The court took account of the school’s unilateral release of Ilone to her mother in determining that the placement could not properly continue under the court’s order.

## Legal Principles

- A placement ordered by the Family Court may include express conditions aimed at the child’s welfare, including required treatment and court reporting.
- A facility that accepts a child pursuant to a court-ordered placement is obligated to comply with the conditions of that order; if it cannot do so, it should decline placement rather than accept custody and then refuse the conditions.
- The Family Court retains continuing control over its dispositional orders and may terminate or modify a placement when the placement cannot serve its stated purpose because the ordered conditions are not being met.
- Decisions to change custody or placement under an existing dispositional order are for the court; an institution may not treat the court’s order as optional by acting outside the court’s control.

## Conclusion

In *In re Ilone I.*, the Family Court ended Ilone’s placement at the New York State Training School because the school accepted the placement but then stated it would not provide the psychiatric treatment and periodic reporting the court required, and the school had released Ilone to her mother, confirming that the placement as ordered was not being carried out under the court’s continuing authority.


In re Ilone I., 65 Misc. 2d 878, 316 N.Y.S.2d 356 (1970)