Custody Law Leaves 23 Dead Children

A bill to prevent child abuse resulting from custody decisions lingers unpassed as state legislative session nears end. Since 2016, 23 children have been murdered by parents given custody in error.

An obstacle to safety for New York State children threatened by domestic violence is the state legislature’s failure to pass Kyra’s Law, says Kellyann Kostyal Larrier, executive director of Fearless! Hudson Valley, Inc., an organization that assists victims of domestic violence. The proposed law requires courts to conduct a review of any findings or allegations of child abuse, domestic violence, heightened danger or risk of lethality before issuing orders for custody or visitation. The law would also require judges and other court officers to be trained by experts on domestic violence.

The proposed law is named for Kyra Franchetti, murdered by her father as she slept when she was two, seven years ago. Kyra’s father had been allowed to have Kyra visit for a week despite her mother’s pleas, warning that the father was violent. He shot Kyra twice as she slept and then burned down the house, killing himself too.

“Kyra’s Law is a top priority for me this year,” said New York State Senator James Skoufis, a co-sponsor of the law. The April day when he was interviewed for this story, he noted, would have been Kyra’s ninth birthday, but she was one of 23 children murdered by a parent in New York State since 2016, amid a divorce, separation or custody case.

However, days before the state legislative session concludes, the bill has yet to be voted on.

“Kyra's Law received a vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is a major step forward for the legislation,” said Emma Fuentes, director of communications for Skoufis. “But we are running up against some strong institutional forces. We're finding opposition from American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML) – a group of just 100 lawyers who are often hired to protect the very abusers Kyra’s Law is uniquely positioned to stop -- as well as some within the court system who are resistant to change and reform.”

She pointed out an opinion piece in Newsday by Lee Rosenberg, fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, asserting that the law would “impair judicial discretion” and cost parents too much time and money and impose “unnecessary multiple layers of bureaucracy,” because of a “mere allegation of abuse.”

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