N.Y. Surrogate's Court Procedure Act § 1701: Power of court The court has power over the property of an infant and is authorized and empowered to appoint a guardian of the person or ...

§ 1701. Power of court

The court has power over the property of an infant and is authorized

and empowered to appoint a guardian of the person or of the property or

of both of an infant whether or not the parent or parents of the infant

or child are living. Where the guardianship and custody of a child have

been committed to an authorized agency pursuant to section six hundred

thirty-one of the family court act, or section three hundred

eighty-three-c, section three hundred eighty-four or section three

hundred eighty-four-b of the social services law, or where both parents

of the child whose consent to the adoption of the child would have been

required pursuant to section one hundred eleven-a of the domestic

relations law are dead, the court may appoint a permanent guardian of a

child if the court finds that such appointment is in the best interests

of the child.