Assembly Passes Kyra's Law and Additional Legislation to Protect Children Involved in the Court System

Assembly Passes Kyra's Law and Additional Legislation to Protect Children Involved in the Court System

Speaker Carl Heastie and Children and Families Committee Chair Andrew Hevesi today announced that the Assembly has passed Kyra's law, which would clarify the legal framework for courts to promote the safety of children in child custody and visitation decisions.

"The wellbeing and welfare of children should always be paramount," Speaker Heastie said. "Kyra's law will ensure the courts consider the full picture when determining custody and visitation - including histories of abuse, stalking and coercive abuse. We will continue working to ensure our laws provide protections and promote the safety of children, particularly those who are already in vulnerable situations."

"Kyra's Law is so important for survivors of domestic violence and child abuse," Assemblymember Hevesi said. "This will give the courts and judges the tools and trainings necessary to make sure children do not end up in potentially deadly custody or visitation arrangements. I'm glad we were finally able to get this over the finish line, and that we were also able to pass legislation to establish a statewide supervised visitation initiative. These bills are vital to keeping kids safe and helping support them through difficult times."

Kyra's Law, which has now passed both the Assembly and the Senate, requires the court to consider a child's health and safety when making a decision regarding child custody and visitation (A.6194-C, Hevesi). It directs the court to review allegations of domestic violence, child abuse or substantial risks of harm to a child; consider the individuals history of domestic violence, child abuse, incidents involving harm that pose a risk to a child; and risk factors including stalking, violence during pregnancy, unlawful dissemination of intimate images, a recent pattern of abuse and threats to harm or kill. This will allow the court to identify risks to children and include protective provisions.

The bill is named in memory of two-year-old Kyra Franchetti, who had court ordered unsupervised visits with her father despite repeated reports and eyewitness accounts of anger and rage issues, suicidal ideations, stalking and a history of coercive tactics and abuse. Kyra was shot to death in her sleep by her father during an unsupervised, court ordered visit in 2016.

The Assembly also passed legislation to establish a statewide supervised visitation initiative through the Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) in consultation with the Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence (A.65-B, Hevesi). The program would facilitate safe, supervised visitation in custody and domestic violence cases, and include culturally sensitive services that provide language access for those who need it. Currently, more than half of the counties in the state do not have supervised visitation programs.

One of the areas of oversight of the New York City Department of Investigation (DOI) is the New York City Administration for Children's Services (ACS). Under current law, DOI must first acquire approval from OCFS or the Justice Center before accessing certain juvenile records while investigating accusations against ACS staff, which can be a lengthy process and can result in a denial. Legislation passed by the Assembly would remove the risk to children and families caused by delays and denials by giving DOI access to ACS records in a similar manner to law enforcement and oversight agencies like the New York Police Department and the District Attorney's Office (A.8248-A, Hevesi).