As a way to protect children from abuse during custody battles, legislation has been introduced within the New York State Senate that has gained increasing support throughout the year.

Senate Bill S3170A, Kyra’s Law, would require family courts to do a safety assessment of lethality risks before making a custody decision. 

Kyra’s Law is named after Kyra Franchetti, a 2-year-old girl who was murdered in 2016 by her father during a court-approved visit. The courts decided to allow Kyra’s father to watch over her, despite concerns of his abusive behaviors and mental well-being. Kyra’s Law would improve existing standards by making it a requirement for courts to address allegations of abuse before any visitation rights are provided for.

“Since 2008, more than 700 children across the nation have been killed by a parent or parental-figure during circumstances involving divorce, separation, custody, visitation or child support,” according to the child advocacy non-profit, Center for Judicial Excellence.

“Right now when folks are in family court and there is a custody battle and one of the parents raises allegations of domestic violence, child abuse or other sorts of violent, dangerous behavior, a judge has the discretion to address that immediately [to] ensure that there are no temporary visitation rights and other rights in that vein… until the allegations are addressed and resolved,” James Skoufis, Senator for the 42nd District of New York State and sponsor of the bill, said. “But that is up to the judge’s discretion, and not all judges use that discretion appropriately.”

The initiative to pass this law began immediately after the murder of Kyra and has since been advocated for by Kyra’s Champions Foundation. 

“At our very last court hearing, which was just days before Kyra was murdered, when I came forward with more things being wrong and that I was terrified for myself and for Kyra… [the judge] said… this is not a life or death situation,” Jacqueline Franchetti, founder of Kyra’s Champions & Kyra’s mother, said.

Franchetti involved many people in the efforts to protect Kyra before her murder. Child Protective Services was not able to help, as there was no proof of her father physically harming her. The case was evaluated by three forensic child custody evaluators, professionals who report the status of families to courts. 

This bill has seen increasing support since Skoufis sponsored the bill, as over half the New York State Senate and Assembly are co-sponsors of this bill today. The bill is bipartisanly supported and has received support from different domestic abuse organizations. 

So far, the biggest barrier to passing Kyra’s Law has been the Office of Court Administration (OCA), which oversees and governs the court system and has major influence over the state legislature.

“With any major policy change, there are going to be some people who are favorable towards the change and some people who are unfavorable towards the change,” Skoufis said. “Them getting around to supporting significant changes is almost an implicit acknowledgment that they, and some judges, have not been doing it right all along.”

While the OCA has been an obstacle to the passing of the bill, they have also acted as a force to have legislators make technical amendments to the bill. Through talks with legislators, judges and administrators from the OCA have given helpful feedback on how to improve the bill by bringing up elements that needed to be addressed. 

“Some of the response has been extremely helpful input, and we’ve made some technical amendments that are a direct result of those conversations I’ve had with them,” Skoufis said. “I think we’re getting there, we’re continuing to make progress, but there’s still some more work to do.”

While support for Kyra’s Law has continued to strengthen, there is still an effort to further the message of the law so it can be passed as soon as possible, therefore protecting children sooner. 

“Kyra’s Law is a very complex bill, and I was hopeful that we would have made more progress this year than we did,” Skoufis said. But I’m committed and I will remain committed to passing the bill.” 

To further support this bill, visit www.kyraslaw.org, where you can enter an email and send letters to the top lawmakers in New York State who will decide if Kyra’s Law will be heard by the court. 

“It’s common sense legislation,” Franchetti said. “Things that you and I would hope were happening or think should be happening, but aren’t in reality. Until the law changes, children are not safe and children are not protected.”