Erin Merryn, my hero > Relentless Warrior for Children, 38 US States and one in India are onboard with Erin's Law

 

Erin's Law Foundation 

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Would you believe me if I told you George Clooney has recently watched videos of my crusade to protect kids and well aware of Erin’s Law? Well it’s true. I cannot share anymore details about that at this time but there is a reason behind it. I can say these legislators that refuse to pass my law don’t know what they are up against. I have given them so much time to do the right thing but obviously protect children from sexual abuse isn’t one of them. It calls into question their character. Who would not want to make the safety of children a priority?

Would you believe me if I told you George Clooney has recently watched videos of my crusade to protect kids and well aware of Erin’s Law? Well it’s true. I cannot share anymore details about that at this time but there is a reason behind it. I can say these legislators that refuse to pass my law don’t know what they are up against. I have given them so much time to do the right thing but obviously protect children from sexual abuse isn’t one of them. It calls into question their character. Who would not want to make the safety of children a priority?

That's a rhetorical question, nevertheless, I shall take a stab at answering it - pedophiles and friends of pedophiles. When Canada's Prime Minister Trudeau was a young drama teacher in West Vancouver's Point Grey High, his roommate was a man who was later imprisoned on child sex abuse material charges. Trudeau, himself, left the school in the middle of the year for reasons that remain undisclosed. In 8.5 years as Prime Minister, Trudeau has done absolutely nothing about the exploding numbers of child sexual abuse.

It was 20 years ago next month I went public with my story by publishing my childhood diary into my first book when I was a senior in high school. It was just the beginning of using my voice to bring awareness to child sexual abuse. What happened to me at the hands of an adult neighbor and teenage cousin has happened to millions of children. I share the details of my abuse to wake people up that what happened to me is not uncommon. This happens to children of all ages, race, and gender. To the wealthy kids and the those living in poverty. All children are at risk of being abused. Some are just at a higher risk than others.

(Trigger warning for survivors below)

Imagine for a moment an 8 year old girl who one minute is running around playing at a friends house to suddenly finding herself locked in a bedroom in that house by the uncle that lived there. The things that follow included being handcuffed, raped, and photographed with a polaroid camera. The pictures alone would put that man behind bars for a very long time. Unfortunately that would never happen and this man would continue his evil deeds. Three decades later I don’t know if those photographs of me ended up in landfill or does he still have them tucked away somewhere in his house. I likely will never know unless relatives stumble upon them when he dies. What I do know is this all could have been prevented had someone educated me not to believe the threats of what he would do if I told anyone. That nobody should be taking photographs of you doing unthinkable things in the process. Instead this happened from 6,7,8 years old on many occasions.

One question I have gotten is “Why would you keep going back?” When a man that has already showed you what he is capable of and then threatens to burn your house down with your family inside if you stop coming over. Tells you he will break in your house at night if I am away too long. The power this man had over my life was significant and I did as he said fearing for my life on many occasions especially those times locked in rooms with him. On more than one occasion I thought he was going to kill me. You don’t give up your career and make your life mission to pass a law in every state over some minor negative event in your life. What this man did to me is happening to many children around this world. I only share these details to get across how important it is that we educate kids and pass this law. I don’t want them to live with the aftermath of the trauma I experience.

Today in Wisconsin the representative chair of Children and Family services killed my bill. Feel free to contact him. Rep.Snyder@legis.wisconsin.gov

I just got off the phone with the sponsor of the bill. Making Wisconsin the longest running state to kill it. 9 years they have killed this bill. Remember that Wisconsin residents when it is election time.

If the legislators in Wisconsin and 11 remaining states haven’t figured it out yet, ignoring me doesn’t work. You can’t get rid of me. Just ask former Rep. Cathy Nolan who chaired education committee in NY. She ignored me for 8 straight years. When she finally was no longer chair the amazing new education chair stepped up and got Erin’s law passed in a few months in NY. A year later a principal in NY was arrested for abusing 26 boys for more than a decade. It came to light immediately after the Erin’s Law presentation when children disclosed what he was doing behind closed doors in his office. Some of those boys who took the stand in court were 9, 10, 11 years old. They were toddlers when Rep. Nolan could have passed my law. She could have prevented their abuse and passed my law in 2011 but instead it took to 2019. She failed these boys big time and she has to live with that.

If you think I have brought this issue into the spotlight it’s going to get much bigger. These remaining state legislators who are the reason this bill is killed or not introduced are going to regret not doing the right thing when they were given so many opportunities. They could have chosen to be a voice for abused kids and champion this bill instead their images and names will be widely known as turning their backs on protecting children. Don’t say I didn’t warn them because I have.

I want to look into the eyes of every legislator who refuses to pass this law and ask them what if that was your child or grandchild that suffered the way I did. Would you not want them to speak up and tell? Well by killing this bill it’s very unlikely they will.

It’s time to hold these legislators in Wisconsin, Nebraska, North Carolina, Kentucky, Kansas, Hawaii, Florida, South Dakota, Massachusetts, Arizona, and Idaho responsible for failing children in their state.

Average cost per child victim is $210,000 costing 124 billion dollars mostly paid by you the tax payer.

1 in 10 children will be sexually abused by 18.

Several years ago I questioned Darkness to Light (D2L.org) on their statistics because so many other sources had much worse that 1 in 10 children. I was put in tough with the very woman who created those 1 in 10 numbers and she informed me that they did not include peer-on-peer child sex abuse. She said, if she had included them the numbers would have gone way up.

Well, guess what. The real numbers have gone way up because of the availability of porn and violent porn to children. I posted this story to my blog just last week:

Most Child Sex Abusers are Children themselves, thanks largely to Violent Pornography

There are 42 million survivors of child sexual abuse in just America. 90% of the time children are abused by someone they know and trust.

It’s very likely what happened to me can be going on next door to you, down the street, or sadly to someone you love and care for. Do your part and don’t scroll on by.

Everyone share and write your legislators.

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