NY A04462

Expands the rape crisis counselor privilege in family court to include domestic violence advocates, preventing their communications from being excluded as evidence.

Allows proof of "impairment of emotional health" in children resulting from a parent's neglect to include expert testimony and evidence showing improvement when the child was in someone else's care.

Requires family courts to consider previous convictions for domestic violence-related offenses (including assault, strangulation, harassment, stalking, menacing, and coercion between spouses, former spouses, or family members) when deciding visitation, custody, and parental rights.

Mandates that respondents with qualifying domestic violence convictions complete at least 12 months of batterer-specific rehabilitation before receiving final custody or visitation determinations.

Restricts parents undergoing mandatory batterer rehabilitation to supervised visitation only until successfully completing the program.