ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Lawmakers and advocates were in Albany on Monday to call for stricter laws to prevent child abuse and death during custody proceedings. The bill, named Kyra’s Law, would mandate judge training on handling family violence cases and would stop practices that allow abusers to gain custody.
The law is named after 2-year-old Kyra Franchetti, who was shot to death in her sleep during an unsupervised court ordered visit with her father despite warnings of his threatening and abusive behaviors.
“The system is gapped. There are red flags; there are things that should be caught,” Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi said. “The fact that even now, in 2023, that we are talking about the court having the best interest in the child, that we even have to write into the law that the first thing is the life then safety. It’s surprising that we have to do that.”
According to the lawmakers in support of the bill, since 2016, 23 New York children have been killed by a parent during a custody battle.