Mom was an NYPD cop who gave her life for New York but the state won’t give her pension to help raise orphaned kids.

Question

She’s speaking out now, ahead of an upcoming state Assembly hearing over her proposed bill, which seeks full death pension benefits for the orphaned children.

In the split-second that the bullet was fired from gunman Alex Brooks’ weapon and into Familia’s head, Villella, then 20, became a single mother to Peter and Delilah — her 12-year-old siblings, now adopted children. 

For eight years, the singleton has dutifully parented the twins — schlepping them to doctors’ appointments, pulling homework all-nighters, hosting birthday parties, enrolling them in college — with a smile on her face, despite having sacrificed her own promising future.

She’d just been thrust into instant motherhood with no full-time job, no money and no lifelong access to Familia’s death pension benefits.

“Everyone thinks that the children [of an NYPD officer] are taken care of and protected,” groaned Villella, whose mother served on the force for 12 years. “But the law, as it stands, is extremely discriminatory and punitive against orphaned children of first responders who die in the line of duty.” 

She chose not to disclose the monetary value of Familia’s pension for privacy purposes. 

However, surviving relatives of a cop killed in the line of duty are eligible to receive half of the officer’s final compensation, Special Accidental Death Benefits (SAD), the city’s Increased-Take-Home Pay (ITHP) — a percentage of an employee’s salary toward their pension — health and union benefits, at least $10,000 from the Police Relief Fund, and more, per NYC.gov.

Currently, those are exclusively awarded to the parents or spouses of fallen first-responders for life. Orphaned kids can only receive the funds until age 21. The law extends the age limit to 23, but only if the child is in college.

As it stands, Peter and Delilah — now 20 and juniors at an in-state university, studying finance and psychology, respectively — will be barred from receiving the support by 2028.

Her bill, sponsored by State Sen. Gustavo Rivera (D-Bronx) and Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz (D-Bronx), was passed in the Senate earlier this year. It was also greenlit by the City Council, which unanimously voted to approve a required letter of support.

The Assembly ultimately nixed the proposal as too costly, but it will be reintroduced during New York’s legislative session in early 2026. 

Answer 1

While I do agree that this is a sad situation, New York State Accidental Death Benefit rules the following. “In the event of [the employee’s] death, the benefit is paid first to a surviving spouse for life; second, if no spouse or after spouse’s death, to minor children until the last child reaches age 18, or, if students, until age 23.” Under that law, the child's entitlement is time limited, and once they age out they will no longer be eligible. The NYC Police Pension Fund confirms that there are active member death benefits, but in terms of who qualifies for it is managed by the rules and statutes of the fund. The fund also only protects children ages 18-23, who are current students. The claim that they stay won't give compensation could be potentially extreme, because they're are frameworks put into place to provide insight on the funding and who is allowed, even though children are allowed until age 23. Your claim is partially true in the sense that under existing law, the children may lose benefits under certain conditions, but saying that no benefits ever existed is a false claim. According the Bronx Times, the state and city is working together to find a solution to this issue in hopes of resolving the conflict regarding the pension and compensation, which then led to the passing of the bill which extends the benefits to her children. Villella has now expressed strong support in the system now that she has been greatly rewarded for her struggles. 

https://www.bxtimes.com/they-want-me-to-go-away-bronx-daughter-of-slain-nypd-officer-fights-for-benefits-she-was-denied/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

https://www.osc.ny.gov/retirement/publications/1512/accidental-death-benefit?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Comments

I like how you laid the law down and applied it to this particular situation, explaining the ages you have to be to earn these benefits along with you correcting the original post that there were never any benefits at all. I think to even get more into context of how this is handled we can dive into a  comparison of other public service workers like firefighters and see how they get compensated and if it seems to be unfair or basically equal.

Answer 2

Upon examining this claim further, it seems to be a little bit dramatized but mostly accurate. The only thing throwing it off is the wording. As I dug into the actual written portion as well as reviewing the source they used, I found that it was trustworthy. I checked dates and the NY Post article looks to be very legit and recent (October 2025) which validates the background portion. It focuses on Eunique Villella, whose mother, Officer Miosotis Familia, was killed in the line of duty in 2017. It becomes clearer, the more you read that the issue isn’t so much that there weren’t benefits provided (the family did receive certain funds and support), it was that New York law limits death pension benefits to spouses or parents, not siblings or other guardians.

I explored more, trying to cross reference the claim and I found that multiple outlets confirm this legal gap. According to CBS New York (June 2024), the kids of fallen first responders can receive death benefits only until they turn 21. After that point however, the benefits end, regardless of financial need or guardianship status. 

Villella and Bronx legislators have been working to change that through a bill sponsored by State Sen. Gustavo Rivera and Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, known as S.3815B/A.8810. This bill would extend lifetime pension benefits to orphaned children of first responders killed in the line of duty, according to the state government resources I found. So far, it passed through the New York State Senate and received unanimous backing from the NYC Council in June 2025.

So the original claim made that “the state won’t give her the pension” is just slightly misleading, since it has more to do with who qualifies under current law than with the state denying benefits out of neglect. The bill is a real proposal to expand benefits to orphaned children, but it hasn’t passed yet because of cost concerns. Overall, I’d say this claim is almost true and it does really capture a policy gap, but the way it's presented initially makes it sound like the state is withholding something it’s not legally allowed to give under existing pension rules.

Sources: 

• https://council.nyc.gov/press/2025/06/12/2902/

• https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/slain-nypd-det-miosotis-familia-children-legal-loophole-denying-them-pension-benefits/_

• https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/home-rule-lifetime-nypd-pension-children/

• https://nypost.com/2025/10/13/lifestyle/my-mom-was-an-nypd-cop-who-gave-up-her-life-for-new-york-but-the-state-wont-give-me-her-pension-to-help-raise-my-orphaned-siblings

• https://abc7ny.com/post/nypd-officer-miosotis-familia-pension-police/11939206

• https://council.nyc.gov/press/page/7/

Answer 3

This claim is true; an NYPD cop was killed while sitting in her patrol car. Her death left behind her 3 kids, the 21-year-old Genesis Villela, and two 12-year-old twins, Peter and Delilah. Genesis said that she had made a promise to her mom to take care of her siblings in case anything happened to her on the job. She was cut off the pension because “I needed to be a student to be able to receive my mom's pension until 23, but I had to drop out of school to take care of my brother and sister when she was killed,” Villela said. (Source: https://abc7ny.com/post/nypd-officer-miosotis-familia-pension-police/11939206/ ) She is still fighting to get her pension saying that no family member or spouse should have restrictions on getting a pension for their deceased loved-one(s). (Sources: https://pix11.com/news/local-news/bronx/kids-of-slain-nypd-officer-still-fighting-for-death-benefits-8-years-later/ https://nypost.com/2025/10/13/lifestyle/my-mom-was-an-nypd-cop-who-gave-up-her-life-for-new-york-but-the-state-wont-give-me-her-pension-to-help-raise-my-orphaned-siblings/ )