Our children are safe… aren’t they?!?

Paul Feuerstein is the founder and President/CEO of Barrier Free Living (BFL). He has a Master’s degree in Communications from New York University’s School of Education, a Masters in Sacred Theology from General Theological Seminary, and a Masters in Social Work in Administration and Group Work from Hunter School of Social Work.

He was the cofounder and first chairperson of the New York City Coalition on Housing for People with Disabilities. That coalition was instrumental in the establishment of Local Law 58, the most progressive building code for access for people with disabilities in its day. Paul notes that “When people with disabilities rolled into our storefront office looking for a place to go,” he organized a task force of disability advocates that met with The Human Resources Administration for two years to create accessible shelters in the city’s homeless system. He developed the first Transitional Residence in the country for Activity of Daily Living dependent homeless people.

He advocated for the creation of domestic violence services for victims with disabilities when none existed. BFL now has the largest domestic violence program for people with disabilities in the country. Freedom House, the first totally accessible emergency domestic violence shelter in the country has served victims with disabilities from over 40 states and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. When he learned that around 20% of the residents at Freedom House needed ongoing supportive services post shelter, he advocated for the creation of supportive housing for survivors of domestic violence. In 2015, Barrier Free Living opened 120 units of Supportive Housing in the South Bronx.

Paul authored “Disabled Women and Domestic Violence: Notes from the Field” for a textbook, Service Delivery for Vulnerable Populations: New Directions in Behavioral Health (Springer, 2011) as well as other articles. He has presented at national and international conferences on issues of Domestic Violence and Disability.

He serves as a member of the Steering Committee and Co-chair of the Best Practices Committee of the New York City Domestic Violence Residence Coalition; member of the Human Services Council’s Priority and Strategy Council and a member of its Equity planning group; and co-founder and former chair of the Disability Network of New York City. He is a member of the Nonprofit Resiliency Committee and a member of the Homeless Family Task Force. He is collaborating with the Institute for the Healing of Memories (IHOM) in Cape Town, South Africa and is the founding Chair of the Board for IHOM North America. He is the Dean of Multi-Vocational Priests for the Episcopal Diocese of New York and Co-chair of the Task Force on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault. He co-chairs the Undoing Racism Committee of St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery.

He was a recipient of a Bishop Cross at the 2012 Diocesan Convention

The Reverend Canon Petero A. N. Sabune rich ministry has stretched from parish priesthood to prison chaplaincy, and has included service on the diocesan, national and international levels.  He is well known for the care and compassion he offers to colleagues and prisoners alike and for his thoughtful speaking and writing about justice and reconciliation.

He is a graduate of Vassar College (BA) and Union Theological Seminary in New York (M.Div), he was ordained to the Episcopal priesthood in 1981. He served in ministry in several parishes in New York and as a Grants Officer for the Global South at Trinity Wall Street and Dean of Trinity and St. Philip’s Cathedral in Newark, NJ before being called as Vicar for Community Ministry at St. James’ Episcopal Church in New York City. In 2004, he became the Protestant Chaplain at Sing Sing, where he served for 5 years. He left Sing Sing to head up the Africa Partnership Officer for the Episcopal Church USA, but then returned to corrections where he served as Liaison for Reentry for the New York Department of Corrections and Community Service. In February 2016 he assumed the position of Director-Elect of the Masters of Professor Studies (MPS) degree offered inside Sing Sing Correctional Facility.

Presentation by The Rt. Rev. Mark S. Sisk Fifteenth Bishop of New York

“In the Book of Proverbs (31.8-9) we learn that we are to “Speak up for people who cannot speak for themselves. Protect the rights of all who are helpless….Protect the rights of the poor and needy.” God has blessed the Church with the voice and witness of The Reverend Canon Petero Sabune, who has displayed stunning consistency in his advocacy of the helpless, the persecuted, the marginalized and the forgotten. His rich ministry has stretched from parish priesthood to prison chaplaincy, and has included service on the diocesan, national and international levels. He has toiled diligently in his pastoral duties, balancing these with praiseworthy leadership in the mission of the New York State Council of Churches, the Religion Labor Coalition, the Business and Technology Institute of Haiti, and as a Trustee of Union Theological Seminary. He has spoken for the powerless to the powerful and been an instrument of peace and compassion. He bears, in his life, the marks of the Crucifixion but has transformed those he has worked with, and for, by a life of peace, justice and joy.

Therefore, in recognition and gratitude for his service to his community, his diocese and the larger Church offered to the glory of God, we, on this 17th day of November 2012, in the fifteenth year of our consecration, do award him”

Jacqueline Franchetti run Kyra’s Champions, a 501(c)4 charity, that advocates for legislative and policy changes to keep children safe abusive parents in child custody cases. Kyra’s Champions was formed after her 2-year-old daughter, Kyra, was murdered by her abusive father during a court-ordered visit.

In the years since Kyra’s murder, Jacqueline has already made substantial changes to better protect children. She has passed bills in multiple state and on federal level. Kyra’s story has been the subject of investigative media reports, and her efforts has garnered wide bipartisan support from federal, state and local lawmakers.

Today, there are seven bills in New York State, including “Kyra’s Law,” inspired and based on Kyra’s custody case to protect children from abusive parents. These bill are all commonsense solutions to keep children safe. Based on Jacqueline’s advocacy, the New York State Governor formed a “Blue Ribbon Commission” in 2021 to explore the role of forensic custody evaluators in custody case and make reform recommendations. Jacqueline was one of only 20 asked to serve on this Commission, and the final report called for an overhaul of the forensic custody evaluations, even calling for their elimination. 

Jacqueline continues to be one of the leading executive coaches to Fortune 1000 companies. She is the CEO and Chief MESSAGEologist at Message2Momentum. C-Suite executives, Wall Street moguls and business leaders rely on her to help them prepare
for major communications events.

Jacqueline also runs the Kyra Franchetti Foundation, a 501(c)3 charity raising awareness about the risk of family violence, especially to children, inside and outside
our divorce/family court system.

Jacqueline believes her work is just beginning in the child advocacy space, and sees many avenues to keep babies and children safe from abusive parents. 

For more information, please visit www.KyrasChampions.org. To help us pass Kyra’s Law, visit www.KyrasLaw.org. 

Andrew Sta. Ana (He/They) is the Director of Law and Policy at Day One, a non-profit organization based in New York City that serves young victims of dating and sexual violence. Further, Andrew serves as an Adjunct Clinical Professor at New York Law School, where he launched the nation’s first law school-based legal clinic to represent victims of cyber harassment. Through direct legal services, advocacy, and education, Andrew works to amplify the voices of survivors. His practice centers on the intersections of cyberharassment, antiviolence, the rights of youth, and LGBTQ+ survivors. In 2019, the National LGBT Bar Association recognized Andrew as one of the nation’s best LGBTQ+ Lawyers under 40. In 2018, Andrew was appointed to the Biden Foundation’s advisory council on Violence against Women. He previously served as an expert trainer with the American Bar Association’s Commission on Domestic and Sexual Violence. In 2015, Andrew was named a Movement Maker by the NoVo Foundation’s Move to End Violence. He is a proud graduate of the CUNY School of Law and SUNY Binghamton. He is a born and raised New Yorker.

Maureen Curtis is responsible for development and oversight of Safe Horizon’s Criminal Justice Programs.  She has worked more than 30 years in the field of victimization and has extensive knowledge of victims’ rights within the criminal justice and housing systems.  Maureen led a program—the Domestic Violence Police Program—since the late 1980s that assigned domestic violence advocates to work with police officers in NYPD precincts citywide.  This program is the model for a newly created program—the Crime Victim Assistance Program—that assigns two advocates to work alongside police officers—an advocate who works with victims of domestic violence and a second advocate who works with all other victims of crime such as sexual assault, robbery, burglary, trafficking, and stalking.  Her work with senior level staff in the NYPD and New York City Housing Authority has led to changes in policies that impact victims citywide.

Ms. Curtis has designed and provided training for law enforcement and community members on the topics of victim safety, offender accountability, housing options, and the criminal justice response to domestic violence.  Maureen also provided services for victims of September 11th at the Pier and in Lower Manhattan that included trauma informed supportive services and helping victims navigate various government systems to secure their rights.  She has been instrumental in creating and introducing a new practice for Safe Horizon staff in their work with clients; led the training for supervisors in the implementation of this model of client centered practice; and continues to provide support and guidance to help staff develop their skills and enhance their knowledge. Ms. Curtis also worked for the Safe Horizon Domestic Violence Accountability Program (DVAP) in the 1990s as a facilitator and program supervisor.  Ms. Curtis is a licensed social worker and also holds a Masters in Public Health.

Gilbert Kliman, M.D. is perhaps the oldest and longest practicing child psychiatrist in the nation. He best known for his invention of a powerful evidence-based in-classroom method to help special needs preschoolers and their families. It is called “Reflective Network Therapy”. He brings Harlem a grant and helped establish Harlem Family Services as a nonprofit agency to include serving special needs preschool children and their families.  He also an expert who often testifies for children and adults who have been abused in churches, foster homes or schools. Medical Director, Preventive Psychiatry Associates Medical Group, Inc. Medical Director, The Children’s Psychological Health Center, Inc. Dr. Kliman is formerly Chairperson, Harlem Family Institute, Co-Chair, Harlem Family Services. Distinguished Life Fellow and Diplomate American Psychiatric Association, Senior Life Fellow and Diplomate, Am. Academy Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Certified Psychoanalyst for Children, Adolescents, and Adults – Am. Psychoanalytic Association. Dr. Kliman is recipient of the Janusz Korczak award for “World’s Best Book on Nurture and Well Being of Children” (Responsible Parenthood), the Anna Freud Award, the Humanitarian Award of The American Psychoanalytic Association. and finally he won the Rieger Award of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry for his 58 years of evidence proving that the emotional health and I.Q.’s of special needs preschool children can be raised substantially despite early childhood autism or childhood traumatic stress disorders.  

The Rev. Dr. Victoria Jeanne Rollins has worked as an advocate for non-violence, equality, gender justice and human rights since rolling bandages at the local hospital, age 11. Also chosen to be “Chaplain” for the Girls Club at her local Young Men’s Christian Association, Victoria compiled her first prayer notebook. Having worked in Rape Crisis Centers, Battered Women’s Shelters and Homeless Shelters in three nations, her Chaplaincy began in Ireland with hospital and hospice capacities and subsequently in New York. Victoria is an Ordained Interfaith Minister and Board Certified Chaplain and Pastoral Counselor with clinical sub-specialty in Hospice and Palliative Care. Awarded a Doctorate in Theology in the U.K., she also holds graduate certificates in Trauma Response and Care as well as in Buddhist Compassionate Care of the Dying. Victoria serves as Co-Chair of the Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Task Force in the Episcopal Diocese of New York, is a member of the Social Concerns Committee, the Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force, the Anti-Racism subcommittee, the Episcopal Immigration Ministries, the UN NGO Committee on Mental Health and UN NGO Committee on Sustainable Development, and as a Chapter convener and sometime workshop facilitator in the College of Psychotherapy and Pastoral Supervision. Victoria is grateful for all these blessings and the opportunities to serve as a Chaplain assisting Clergy and laity alike, is active in the Inter-faith movement and serves in pastoral capacities in parishes and non-profit agencies such as Live on New York (organ transplantation) and Caringkind, including as a Support Group leader for caregivers of dementia sufferers. Let our voices for healing justice-making rise together!