§ 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.