Kyra’s Champions continue to advocate for the passage of Kyra’s Law, a rule that would add protections for children in the family court system at risk of violence by a parent or guardian. They are calling on Gov. Kathy Hochul to include the law in the State of the State and the executive budget for 2026 so that Kyra’s Law becomes a reality.
The organization held a press conference in Albany on Mon., Oct. 27, urging the state government to make the law happen.
“These are all common sense changes that need to be made,” Kyra’s Champions founder Jacqueline Franchetti said about the law, which has received bipartisan support.
Franchetti has met with representatives of Hochul, but not yet the governor herself, she said. She hopes to talk to her in the future.
“We talked about Kyra’s Law, and I do feel that they listened to to me and they understand the importance and significance of this bill,” Franchetti said. Still, there is no guarantee the law will be included in the State of the State or the budget, which will both be released in January.
Franchetti said the law aims to make child safety the top priority in a custody case by ensuring that there are two safe homes when courts are assessing custody or visitation, mandate judge training regarding “life-or-death” situations and stop common practices that allow abusers to easily secure custody of a child.
Franchetti founded Kyra’s Champions in response to the murder of her daughter Kyra by the child’s father in the summer of 2016. Kyra was 28 months old when she was on an unsupervised, court-approved visit with her father, who shot her in her sleep.
“She had just learned how to roll down the hill in my backyard, and she took a couple of tumbles down, and she had just gotten up and she said, ‘I did it, Mama,’” Franchetti said. “And she was just so proud of all of the accomplishments that she was making as a toddler, and had the most beautiful and infectious smile, and a stranger was just someone she hadn’t met yet when her abusive father shot her, not once, but twice, in the back while she slept.”
The rule passed the New York State Senate unanimously in June, Franchetti said, and has over 100 co-sponsors in the New York State Assembly.
