LI Mother Fights For Child Abuse Laws; Daughter Was Killed By Father

MANHASSET, NY — On Tuesday, Jacqueline Franchetti's daughter Kyra would have been celebrating her 9th birthday.

Instead, Franchetti is constantly fighting for change.

Kyra was shot to death in her sleep by her dad when she was 2 years old.

"I miss Kyra every single second of every day," Franchetti told Patch.

She founded "Kyra's Champions" as a platform to call out child abuse and New York's "extremely broken family court system."

The group is run by middle and high school students from across Long Island. In honor of Kyra and National Child Abuse Prevention Month, the students place 748 pinwheels (for each child who died at the hands of child abuse in recent years in New York) in two Nassau County parks: Blumenfeld Park in Port Washington and Mary Jane Davies Green Park in Manhasset.

The pinwheels, a symbol of child abuse prevention, will be on display through April 16.

"Families all around Long Island, really all around the nation, over the next week will be putting nine pinwheels on the front lawns in conjunction with the event," Franchetti said. "It brings me to tears when I see it."

Franchetti is renewing her efforts to get Kyra's Law passed in Albany. It would prevent children from being sexually, physically and emotionally abused, or murdered, at the hands of their own parents.

Everything Franchetti does is in Kyra's memory, "to help protect other children who are at risk and in jeopardy today," she said.

Franchetti said Kyra's Law is a suite of seven, "game-changing" bills that "ensure a child's life and safety is put first in a divorce or custody case."

For more than six years, Kyra's mother used her horrific grief as a springboard for sunlight.

"I'm truly hoping to make this a reality in 2023," Franchetti said.