Six Positive Stories in the War on Child Sex Abuse - Episode XVI

Thousands Of Child Sex Abuse Victims
To Begin Seeking Justice In New York

As One-Year Window Opens to Sue

It was many years in the making, and took the removal of some sleazy NY Republican state senators to make it possible as the Catholic Church, Boy Scouts, and Insurance Companies fought tooth and nail to prevent it from happening. Congratulations to the many people who fought long and hard to bring this day about.

NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Thousands of victims of child sex abuse in New York will have the chance to seek civil justice against their alleged abusers beginning Wednesday, when the state’s Child Victims Act takes effect.

New York will open a unique one-year period during which victims can file claims against their abusers and the institutions that protected them, regardless of how long ago the abuse occurred.

Among those bracing for lawsuits include the Catholic Church and the Boy Scouts of America, who have already faced numerous cases of sexual abuse in the past year.

Those who will be filing suits including New York State Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte, who claims the have been abused by a priest as a child.

“I am a survivor who was sexually abused at the age of 10 by a pastor, now there is path for retribution,” she told reporters.

The Child Victims Act also extend the state's statute of limitations for criminal child sexual abuse cases. Victims, who previously had until the age of 25, now have until the age of 28 to seek a felony indictment. The statute of limitations for civil cases is until the victim turns 55, up from the previous age of just 23.

From 25 to 28 for criminal cases is a joke. Most people who suffer from repressed memories of child sex abuse are in their 40s or 50s before they are capable of dealing with the trauma.

“The message to abusers is loud and clear there is no place for you to hide in the state of New York any longer,” said State Sen. Alessandra Biaggi.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the legislation into law in February while praising the abuse survivors who had already come forward to make change for others.

How Thorn Is Fighting To Eliminate Child Sexual Abuse From The Internet

MeiMei Fox Contributor 
ForbesWomen                 NGO started by Ashton Kutcher & Demi Moore
NY Times Bestselling Author

Child sexual abuse material has exploded since the dawn of the internet era, while child sex trafficking also has increased as a result of being made easier for traffickers. The number of child sexual abuse files exchanged online grew from 450,000 in 2004 to 25 million in 2015, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. As many as one in seven runaways becomes a victim of sex trafficking, and many of these children are advertised online. Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore cofounded Thorn to combat this problem. The non-profit’s mission is to build technology to defend children from sexual abuse online by eliminating all child sexual abuse material from the internet.

Ashton Kutcher, the cofounder of Thorn, poses with Thorn CEO Julie Cordua. BRET HARTMAN

Thorn partners across the tech industry, government and NGOs and leverages technology to combat predatory behavior, rescue victims, and protect vulnerable children. The non-profit’s products are used today in 35 countries and have helped identify more than 30,000 victims of abuse, 10,000 of whom were children. Recently, Thorn was one of eight recipients to share in an over $280 million grant from The Audacious Project by TED.

In her role as CEO of Thorn, Julie Cordua manages the Thorn Technology Task Force, the largest organization of its kind, uniting technology companies committed to fighting child exploitation. She also collaborates with other NGOs, policy makers, law enforcement agencies, and the private sector in her work. “We started Thorn seven years ago to address the growing problem of online child sexual exploitation. We saw how technology was being used to exploit our children through child sex trafficking, the spread of child sexual abuse material, and online grooming and coercion. Yet there was no concentrated effort to use technology to fight back and stop this abuse,” Cordua says.

Thorn recently won a grant from the Audacious Project by TED to combat the online exploitation of children. BRET HARTMAN

Prior to running Thorn, Cordua ran marketing for (RED). During her time with the NGO, she helped raise more than $180 million to fight AIDS in Africa. Back then, she did not know much about child sex trafficking or online child sexual abuse – mostly because these are things we don’t talk about as a society. “Most of us don’t know the realities of these crimes or how pervasive they are,” Cordua says. “They are hard to talk about. Most people would rather turn away than really dive into the issues.”

And that is the biggest part of the problem. It is even very difficult to get Christians to pray about this.

N.Y. Gov. Cuomo signs Erin’s Law after sexual abuse survivors slammed him for dragging feet

By DENIS SLATTERY
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |

Sex abuse survivor, and anti-abuse advocate Erin Merryn, addresses those gathered during

a press conference at the Legislative Office Building on Monday, April 30, 2012 in Albany, NY.

(Paul Buckowski/Albany Times Union)

ALBANY ― Schoolkids in New York will soon receive special instruction on how to recognize and prevent sexual abuse.

Gov. Cuomo on Thursday signed Erin’s Law, a measure requiring educators to dedicate time each school year to teach children in kindergarten through eighth grade about child sexual abuse and personal body safety.

“Sexual abuse is a nationwide epidemic that has inflicted unimaginable pain on countless children, and we must use every lever at our disposal to stop it,” Cuomo said. “Many children who have been a victim of these horrific crimes or who are still suffering from abuse don’t have the information or emotional tools they need to fight back.”

The governor took heat last week as advocates slammed him for not signing the bill in time for the approaching school year.

Erin Merryn, the bill’s namesake and a survivor of sexual abuse, said she was frustrated by Cuomo’s feet-dragging and had hoped for a public bill signing — but called the measure being codified into law the real win.

“I am just ecstatic," Merryn told the Daily News. “This is a huge win for the children of New York and I’m just so happy that this day has finally come."

A Cuomo aide noted that the bill was one of hundreds passed during the legislative session and it needed to be reviewed by the administration before the governor could sign off.

Gary Greenberg, an advocate and victim of childhood sexual abuse, said there was no excuse for the delay.

“It’s great that this has become the law of the land and it will prevent future abuse,” he said. “But the quicker we implement this the safer the kids of the state will be. The governor could have signed it immediately. It’s his prerogative what bills he wants to sign and when, but to me this was the most important bill passed this year in the Legislature.”

Under the law, first introduced in New York in 2012, kids will receive age-appropriate lessons on how to speak up about anything that makes them uncomfortable and tell the differences between “good and bad” touches.

Parents and school staff would also be educated on recognizing signs of abuse. Similar legislation is already on the books in 36 other states.

Bill sponsor Sen. Alessandra Biaggi (D-Bronx), also a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, called the measure a companion piece to the Child Victims Act, which earlier this year changed the statute of limitations for child sex abuse cases and created the one-year civil suit lookback that began last week.

“For years lawmakers and advocates fought for our children’s access to critical preventative resources to stop childhood sexual abuse, and today that battle is finally won,” she said. “As a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, it has been an honor to carry this bill and fight like hell to give future generations the tools I didn’t have to protect themselves against harm and lasting trauma.”

Cyberabad Police’s ‘Bala Mithras’

to help prevent child abuse

Cyberabad Police launches initiative, teacher from schools to act as bridge between students and SHE Team

By TelanganaToday 

Cyberabad Police Commissioner V C Sajjanar presenting a sapling to academician Chukka Ramaiah at the Bala Mithra refresher programme in Hyderabad.

Hyderabad: The Bala Mithra second refresher programme was conducted by the Cyberabad Police at Shilpakala Vedika here. The initiative is aimed at preventing child abuse in schools. For this, 1,700 Bala Mithra teachers were identified from schools so far.

Cyberabad Commissioner V C Sajjanar, along with Ranga Reddy and Medchal district administration representatives and B Janardhan Reddy, Secretary (Education) and academician Chukka Ramaiah launched the refresher programme.

Officials said child sexual abuse was not being reported due to lack of awareness among children. Not only girls, even boys were victimised. The POCSO Act (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act makes it the responsibility of the school to report immediately to the police any case of child sexual abuse that comes to their notice and a punishment of six months’ imprisonment or fine or both is prescribed for not reporting.

In order to create awareness and also provide a platform for children to report sexual abuse cases, the Cyberabad Police has taken up the ‘Bala Mithra’ initiative wherein one teacher from each school, a counsellor if available, will act as bridge between the students and the SHE Team, Cyberabad.

“It is this teacher or counsellor who reports to the police any case of child sexual abuse that is brought to their notice and immediately informs the SHE Team who will take further action for registering the case at the local police station,” Sajjanar said.

Until now, 25 petitions were received from the Bala Mithra teachers and cases were booked. Cyberabad Police also issued instructions for a database on school transportation, asking managements to submit details of number of children using the vehicle for school transportation, type of transportation vehicle, capacity and other details. They advised the schools to verify the level of security and to paste a Bala Mithra sticker on the transportation vehicle.

Till now, as many as 1,950 school vehicles have been identified and stickers pasted on some of them by the guests during the function. The Cyberabad Police also launched a special WhatApp No: 9490617444 for reporting on child sexual abuse or Dial 100 or send e-mail to balamithra.cyberabad@gmail.com.

Madhapur DCP Venkateshwara Rao, Cyberabad Traffic DCP S M Vijay Kumar, Malkajgiri RDO Madhusudhan Rao, Women and Children Safety wing DCP Anasuya, W&CSW ADCP Indira also attended the refresher programme.

Song to create awareness

An awareness song on child sexual abuse themed on ‘Bala Mithra’ and which starts with ‘Enough is enough’ has been made by short filmmaker Sunil Sharath. Sunil Sharath, who works as a vice-president with a Bengaluru-based IT Services company said he is passionate of making short films and promoting social awareness.

Frieha Altaf conducts her first conference on

child abuse in Pakistan

FAIZA ILYAS
DAWN

Celebs like Sarwat Gilani, Shehzad Roy and Shaniera Akram attended along with Pakistan's top child psychologists

Speakers at a programme on child abuse said on Saturday that it was a grave yet complex issue requiring interventions at multiple levels beginning from good and healthy parenting, creating awareness in the community and among children about their safety, implementation of all relevant laws to establishment of effective child protection and rehabilitation mechanisms.

They expressed these views at the Stop Child Abuse Conference.

“Verbal abuse is the most common form of maltreatment children experience. Fifty per cent cases of stomach pain in children are found to be linked to some psychological issues.

“Then, there are [psychological] cases in which children complain of headaches before going to school,” said Dr Fawad Suleman, a psychiatrist at the National Institute of Child Health.

Explaining how to recognise signs of abuse in children, he said doctors, however, were hapless (at a certain point) because they could not do many things without the support of parents, suggesting that parents, one or both, might be the cause or a contributing factor in “the disturbing situation the child was experiencing”.

One of the speakers says Pakistan

has only four qualified child psychiatrists

He also regretted over the dearth of child (and adolescent) psychiatrists in Pakistan and disclosed, to the surprise of the audience, that “there are only four qualified child psychiatrists in the country”.

Parents’ role in upbringing

During the discussion moderated by actor Maria Wasti, participants shared their concern over lack of awareness on the subject and suggested that children should be taught about their bodies, good and bad touch at an early age.

Highlighting the critical role parents play in children’s upbringing, Shaniera Akram representing the Akram Foundation said parents must listen to their children and develop a deeper relationship with them based on trust.

She disapproved what’s seen as normal in Pakistani society and said that parents must not allow anyone to touch their child, which would give a message to children to be cautious of people in their surroundings.

“They have a tiny world and should be helped to draw clear boundaries between family and strangers,” she said.

To a question about how far a 2013 law banning corporal punishment of children had helped prevent abuse in the country, singer-cum-activist Shehzad Roy said that the law might not be implemented 100pc but the positive development was that abusive conduct against children could now be legally challenged.

“It’s because of this law that we see people recording violence against children, which [clips] are then displayed on the media and authorities (are forced to) make arrests,” he said, adding that corporal punishment of children was earlier legally allowed under ‘good faith’.

He also spoke of the efforts being taken to make required additions in children’s curriculum.

Actor Sarwat Gilani, also an advocate of children’s rights, called for collaboration and said all non-governmental organisations needed to work together on this issue.

‘10 kids being assaulted on daily basis’

Recent data on children’s sexual abuse was also shared during the discussion and it was pointed that more than 10 children, who were less than 18 years of age, were being sexually abused daily in Pakistan.

Earlier, former senator Javed Jabber referred to the various sections of the UN Convention on Children’s Rights, highlighted the position of the international forum on this subject.

“I want to focus on non-violent abuse, something very damaging but which is incalculable, invisible and intangible. And, this conduct is not limited to illiterate or semi-literate families, you would find it even in educated families,” he said, adding that this attitude could be disabling in one or the other fundamental ways.

He also recalled efforts the government of slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto had made in its first tenure for children’s rights at the international level.

Rabiya Javeri, the secretary of the ministry of human rights, spoke of the efforts the government was taking to ensure protection of children’s rights.

Pakistan, you have such a long way to go! May God have mercy on your children.

Vermont Becomes Latest State to Abolish Statute of Limitations in Child Sex Abuse Cases

JOSEPH H. SAUNDERS

Vermont Governor Phil Scott last week signed a new law that removes the time limit for victims of child sexual abuse to bring civil claims against their abusers and the institutions that protected them.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said HB 330 is one of the strongest statute of limitations reforms for victims in the country.

“By opening a ‘window to justice’ and allowing survivors whose cases were previously barred by [statutes of limitations] to be heard in court, important information can be exposed that can help create safer, more informed communities,” the organization wrote in a statement.

“We hope that other legislators around the country will look to Vermont as an example as they too begin to take up [statute of limitation] reform in their own states.”

While Vermont has been relatively unscathed thus far in the decades long abuse crisis, its neighbor New Hampshire was engulfed in chaos by such revelations at the turn of the century.  Time will tell if the new law brings about the same scenario in the Green Mountain State.

Last week, Bishop Christopher Coyne published a list of 40 priests (2nd story on link) who worked in Vermont and have been found credibly accused of sexually abusing minors.  In announcing the publication of the list, Coyne emphasized that the abuse that occurred in Vermont is well in the past.

Abuse advocates however have warned that there are at least five priests known to have abused children who did not make the list.

The list was published after the Vermont attorney general’s office launched its own investigation of allegations of physical, mental and sexual abuse and a death at the now-shuttered St. Joseph’s Orphanage in Burlington and amid mounting pressure on the Church to respond to sexual abuse claims.

Vermont joins other New England states in publishing lists of priests accused of abuse.  However, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP, said there was a “glaring flaw” in the system in that allegations are not made public.

“The Catholic Church has already demonstrated that it cannot be trusted to police itself. By keeping the accusations under wraps, the process does not encourage victims, witnesses and whistleblowers with additional information to come forward,” Melanie Sakoda, the survivor support coordinator for the group, said in an emailed statement. “People are often reluctant to be the first but will step up when they know someone else has come forward. The best place for allegations of sexual abuse is still in the hands of law enforcement.”

Of course, the most important news for abuse survivors in Vermont is that the law has changed.  The new law affords each and every one of them an opportunity to seek justice in the civil courts rather than hope for the Catholic Church to do the right thing, which historically, has proven miserably inept (or perhaps, unwilling).  The new law will allow survivors to heal and restore their lives after years of suffering in shame and silence because the unjust laws supported their abusers.