New York Consolidated Laws, Surrogate's Court Procedure Act - SCP § 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.