Senate Bill S976

2023-2024 Legislative Session

Relates to the creation of Melinda's Law in relation to the basis for removal of children

download bill text pdf

Sponsored By

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Children And Families Committee


  • Introduced
    • In Committee Assembly
    • In Committee Senate
    • On Floor Calendar Assembly
    • On Floor Calendar Senate
    • Passed Assembly
    • Passed Senate
  • Delivered to Governor
  • Signed By Governor

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2023-S976 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:
A5455
Current Committee:
Senate Children And Families
Law Section:
Family Court Act
Laws Affected:
Amd §§1012, 1017, 1022, 1027 & 1028, Fam Ct Act
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:
2011-2012: A10080
2013-2014: A2083, A8490
2015-2016: A2412
2017-2018: A4271, A9725
2019-2020: A5745, A6536
2021-2022: S6509, A4754

2023-S976 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Protects a parent who is a victim of domestic violence from having children removed from their custody if they reported the abuse.

2023-S976 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2023-S976 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                    976
 
                        2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                              January 9, 2023
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen. MATTERA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Children and Families
 
 AN ACT to amend the family court act,  in  relation  to  the  basis  for
   removal of children and the creation of "Melinda's Law"
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. This act shall be known and  may  be  cited  as  "Melinda's
 Law".
   §  2.  Legislative  intent.  The legislature hereby finds and declares
 that in cases of domestic violence, the abuse sometimes moves  from  the
 spouse  to  the children. Once the abusive spouse begins to over-discip-
 line the children, the abusive spouse will  often  use  threats  or  the
 removal  of  the  children  by  child  protective services as a means to
 compel subjugation from the non-abusive spouse. In addition, the abusive
 spouse prevents the reporting of  such  incidents  to  child  protective
 services  by  making the non-abusive spouse an accomplice in this abuse.
 Under this threat, children are subjected to escalating abuse that could
 have been prevented if the non-abusive  spouse  had  a  safe  harbor  to
 report such abuse at the early stages without fear of losing their chil-
 dren.  By  this  act the legislature intends to take such tool away from
 the abusive spouse by providing the non-abusive spouse a way  to  report
 such  incidents without fear of having their children removed from their
 custody. The sequence of events above are an apt description of  "Melin-
 da".  Melinda  is a woman suffering from domestic violence. She had been
 abused by her husband over a   twenty-year period. The  abuse  had  seen
 verbal,  psychological,  and  physical. She took the abuse in the belief
 that her children needed a father. Eventually the abuse was  transferred
 to  the  children.  It  started with excessive spanking, locking a young
 teenager in the basement, and pushing a  five-year-old  to  the  ground.
 Melinda  confronted  her husband and put herself between her husband and
 her children resulting in a black-eye to Melinda. She told  her  husband
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD01036-01-3
              

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