Bipartisan Kyra's Law would prioritize child welfare in custody court

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEXSTAR) — Domestic violence advocacy groups want New York Governor Kathy Hochul to include a child safety bill called Kyra’s Law in the upcoming fiscal year 2027 Executive Budget. In a letter sent Monday, the New York State Coalition Against Domestic Violence and 16 other organizations argued that failures under current New York Law have caused tragedies in child custody cases.

If enacted, Kyra’s law would take effect nine months—270 days—after becoming law. The Executive Budget process is the only venue for the governor of New York can officially and directly introduce legislation.

NYSCADV highlighted a chilling statistic, arguing that 40 children were murdered by a parent during custody proceedings in New York State since 2016. They said that two of those were in September 2025.

Kyra’s Law, S5998B/A6194B, would overhaul the family court system by requiring the courts to prioritize a child’s safety. It mandates a full review of any allegations of domestic violence or child abuse before issuing temporary or final custody or visitation orders.

“You would think that is what it should be now, but it doesn’t seem like it is, at times,” said Republican State Senator Dean Murray.

The legislation would explicitly elevate a child’s welfare as “paramount” to court proceedings and “integral” in any court ruling on parental access. If passed, the law would ban granting custody to a parent just to improve their relationship with the child or to address their reluctance to interact.

The law requires the court to review the record of any party trying to access the child, including parents, grandparents, or some other “person, official, agency or institution.” That assessment of allegations would include finding and fully interrogating any history of:

• Using or threatening to use a weapon or dangerous instrument
• Unlawful possession of a firearm
• Sexual abuse or other sexual offenses against the child or the other party
• Domestic violence, child abuse, or incidents involving harm to a child
• Coercive control—behavior like threats, intimidation, isolating the other party, interfering with their movement, or controlling their finances
• Stalking or cyber stalking

Jennifer Friedman—Senior Program Director at the New York City-based Sanctuary for Families—said courts too often “dismiss or minimize abuse” when survivors come to them desperate to protect their children.

Under the law, courts must appoint an attorney to represent a child in custody proceedings if there are allegations of domestic violence, child abuse, or neglect. And in such cases, the court couldn’t rule that a parent who is protecting their child is actually trying to alienate the child from the other parent.

As long as they act reasonably, that protective parent wouldn’t be required to help the relationship between the child and the other parent develop. Nor would they lose custody themselves, so long as they’ve acted in good faith. The bill’s sponsors point to research on mothers claiming abuse by fathers. In such cases, cross-claims of parental alienation ramp up significantly, so non-offending parents often lose custody to manipulative abusers.

Advocates argue that abusers use their kids as tools of abuse against the other parent. They might file for sole custody just to restrict the access or damage their relationship. That sort of false flag report of parental alienation represents the abuser tactic DARVO, which stands for deny, attack, reverse victim and offender.

The law would also prevent courts from granting sole or joint custody to any parent already limited or restricted in their contact with the child. It would also ban unsupervised visitation between a child and a parent with such limitations or restrictions.

Plus, there’s new training requirements for judges, referees, and other officers handling custody cases involving violence or abuse. It would also mandate the court state its determinations on conditions in writing or on the record.

Kyra’s Law was named after 2-year-old Kyra Franchetti, murdered by her father during a court-ordered, unsupervised visit in 2016. This despite Kyra’s mother repeatedly reporting the father’s anger issues, stalking, threats of suicide, and history of coercive control and abuse.

“New York’s courts ignored the warnings,” said Jacqueline Franchetti, Kyra’s mother and founder of the organization Kyra’s Champions, which backs the law. “Kyra paid with her life.”

The call to include the bill in the Governor’s Executive Budget comes because the legislation, introduced in the legislature in early 2025, failed to pass in the Assembly, stalling in the Judiciary Committee. The Senate, meanwhile, approved the bill unanimously before session ended in June. The legislature won’t consider the bill again until reconvening in January.

Despite the push for inclusion in the budget, Democratic Assemblymember Andrew Hevesi said, “Kyra’s law is currently being amended with the goal of passing it legislatively, not through the budget, at the beginning of next year.” He chairs the Assembly Committee on Children and Families and also sponsored the bill in the Assembly.

Democratic Senator James Skoufis, who sponsored the bill in the Senate, cited preventable “gaps and loopholes in an overburdened family court system” that continue to put kids with abusive parents. He said he looks forward to working with the Executive on passing the bill, noting Hochul’s consistent support for addressing family court shortcomings.

“Protecting children must always outweigh every other consideration,” said Republican Assemblymember Michael Tannousis, the ranking member of the Assembly Judiciary Committee, where the bill stalled. “It’s my sincere hope that my colleagues and Gov. Hochul make this life-saving legislation a priority so no more children are lost to preventable violence.”

Republican Senator Rob Rolison, ranking member of the Senate Committee on Children and Families, isn’t sure why Kyra’s Law died in the Assembly. He said, “I strongly encourage Governor Hochul to include Kyra’s Law in her Executive Budget proposal.”

“Every day that goes by without the passage of Kyra’s Law puts children at risk,” agreed Republican Senator Anthony Palumbo, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who agreed that the law should be part of the budget. “Bolstering the State’s Family Court system to better protect the health, safety and wellbeing of New York’s children and families is a non-partisan issue.”

Indeed, Rolison, Palumbo, and Murray all co-sponsored the bill in the Senate. For his part, Murray called the bill a “common sense piece of legislation” that should have already passed and been signed into law. “I hope, in one form or another, it gets done in this coming year.”

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Take a look at the letter from advocates to Hochul below: