State lawmakers left Albany last summer without taking action on Kyra’s Law, a bill that would reshape child custody decisions in New York by requiring judges to consider a parent’s overall history of abuse or neglect more than the current norm.
Now, supporters of the bill are rallying behind a renewed fight to pass it as the state Legislature reconvenes this month.
“We need it to be the first bill that passes in January,” said Jacqueline Franchetti, whose 2-year-old daughter Kyra — after whom the bill is named — died in 2016. According to investigators, Kyra’s father killed her during an unsupervised, court-approved visit to his house in Virginia, then set the home on fire and killed himself.
Divorce attorneys, child safety advocates and mothers in custody cases involving domestic violence allegations said Kyra’s Law could prevent future tragedies by better enabling courts to keep children away from parents and guardians who can be shown to pose a risk of harm to their children. Advocates including Franchetti estimate more than 20 children have been killed by a parent in New York family court proceedings since 2016.
Today, state judges can weigh a parent’s history of violence in adjudicating child custody but aren’t legally required to do so. The family court system also tends to prioritize giving both parents in separations at least partial custody of their children — something that doesn’t make sense in every case, according to backers of Kyra’s Law.
“The law favors relationships, it favors parental-child relationships,” said Dror Bikel, an attorney specializing in divorce and domestic violence cases. He said 10-15% of divorce cases involve domestic violence between spouses, but stressed that judges don’t always see it as a reason to keep a child away from a parent as they navigate a nuanced set of boundaries around custody.
Kyra’s Law would call for courts to examine any allegations of child abuse, domestic violence, sexual abuse,…
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