So far in the 21st century nearly a third of a billion children have been sexually abused, most of them multiple times, some thousands of times. 6 out of 7 are girls. Anything you can do to get this message to as many people as possible will help save abused children all over the world, and maybe even some of the abusers. Please read "Save A Child from Sexual Abuse by 3:15 PM" under "First Time Visitor?" May God bless you and anoint this ministry.
Everyday thousands of children are being sexually abused. You can stop the abuse of at least one child by simply praying. You can possibly stop the abuse of thousands of children by forwarding the link in First Time Visitor? by email, Twitter or Facebook to every Christian you know. Save a child or lots of children!!!! Do Something, please!
3:15 PM prayer in brief:
Pray for God to stop 1 child from being molested today.
Pray for God to stop 1 child molestation happening now.
Pray for God to rescue 1 child from sexual slavery.
Pray for God to save 1 girl from genital circumcision.
Pray for God to stop 1 girl from becoming a child-bride.
If you have the faith pray for 100 children rather than one.
Students walk in a circle before the start of the school day at an elementary school in California on April 21, 2026. Photo by Adriana Heldiz, CalMatters
In summary
Lawmakers spent two years negotiating a compromise that would protect sexual assault survivors’ path to justice without bankrupting cash-strapped school districts, cities and counties.
California lawmakers agreed to a deal that will allow many survivors of childhood sexual assault at public institutions to continue to sue the public bodies they say are responsible for their trauma.
The compromise released Thursday is a partial win for some victims’ advocates, who opposed capping the amount of damages a survivor could seek from cities, counties and school districts that employ the alleged abusers and oversee the facilities where the abuse took place.
Cities, counties and school districts had implored lawmakers to cap damages to help stop the financial bleeding since a 2019 law greatly expanded who could sue over childhood sexual assault in California.
The agreement amends Senate Bill 577, a deal to address the rising costs authored last year by Sen. John Laird that fell apart at the last minute and was shelved.
The legislative deal jettisoned any caps on damages, which survivor groups argued were akin to putting a price tag on someone’s assault. Local governments and school districts were adamant that caps, while politically unappealing, were the only solution to substantially improve their financial health.
But in a win for the public entities, the deal brokered by Senate and Assembly Democratic leadership requires older survivors to present stronger evidence of their assaults. The new requirements apply to survivors over age 40 and those with cases prior to 2024 — when lawmakers abolished the statute of limitations for child sex abuse cases — in which records were destroyed.
Senate President Pro Tem Monique Limón, a Santa Barbara Democrat, said in a statement that “protection and prevention” were at the center of the conversations and she was grateful lawmakers could come together to “protect justice, prioritize prevention for the millions in our care, and acknowledge the impacts to our communities.”
Chantel Johnson, a spokesperson for the Youth Law Center, which represents survivors, in a statement thanked lawmakers for rejecting “some of the most harmful proposals under consideration” and cheered the addition of preventive measures.
“The fiscal pressures facing counties and other public entities are real, but the harm that created those costs is even more consequential,” Johnson said.
But while the Youth Law Center and its allies embraced the deal, other survivor advocate groups excoriated the agreement — especially the higher evidence threshold for plaintiffs over 40 — as a tragedy that will undermine some victims’ cases.
They argue that since many victims don’t come forward until later in adulthood, a more stringent evidence standard denies justice for those who bring their cases later.
“If the Legislature passes this immoral bill, we call upon Gov. Newsom to protect survivors and hold abusers accountable by vetoing SB 577,” said Caroline Heldman, founder of the group Stand With Survivors, in a joint statement with four other victim advocacy groups.
Representatives for the school districts and local governments had argued that current funding should benefit children and communities today, not line the pockets of plaintiffs’ attorney firms that profit from taxpayer-funded settlements and damages.
On top of any damages they must pay to victims, schools and local governments have had to set aside more and more of their budgets to cover the soaring costs of liability insurance. That has resulted in cuts to staff and programs and delayed maintenance and facilities upgrades.
“Californians are paying a lawsuit tax on nearly everything they buy and every public service they use,” said Jaime Huff, leader of the nonprofit Civil Justice Association of California, in a statement Friday. She said SB 577 “puts some common sense back into a system where questionable claims and runaway litigation costs have drained billions” from local governments and school districts.
The amendments also remove a controversial statute-of-limitations cutoff for claims against juvenile detention centers operated by Los Angeles County, which last year reached a $4 billion settlement with survivors of the now-shuttered MacLaren Children’s Center.
The bill also lays out a host of preventive measures to curb child sex abuse in public institutions. Counties, cities and school districts would be required to develop and submit codes of conduct and sexual assault prevention plans to the California attorney general’s office by Jan. 1, 2028 and that office would brief the Legislature on which agencies failed to comply. It also expands the list of employers considered “mandatory reporters” of child sexual assault or grooming to include peace officers, probation officers, social workers and others.
There are also provisions to crack down on fraudulent claims. Attorneys who are found to have brought a child sexual abuse claim “in bad faith” would be subject to a $25,000 fine.
Lawmakers have until Monday to consider the legislation in both chambers of the state Legislature. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office on Thursday declined to comment, however sources familiar with the negotiations said he indicated he would sign any deal the Legislature sent to him.
The parents of a seven-month-old California boy who has been missing for more than a week have been arrested on suspicion of murder, authorities in California confirmed on Friday.
Emmanuel Haro went missing last Thursday. His mother, Rebecca Haro, claimed she was attacked and knocked unconscious and that when she woke up, someone had kidnapped her infant.
Rebecca and Jake Haro were arrested at their home in Cabazon on Friday morning, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said, adding that investigators are continuing their search for the baby.
Speaking to ABC Eyewitness News last week, Haro said she had been changing her son’s diaper in a store parking lot in Yucaipa, Calif., near San Bernardino, when she was assaulted from behind.
“I got him out of the car seat, and I laid him down so I could get his diapers ready, and somebody said, ‘Hola,’ and that’s all I remember. I saw white, and I fell on the floor, and as soon as I got up, I couldn’t find my son. I checked all around my truck,” Haro, who had a black eye, told the outlet.
Haro claimed she never saw her alleged attacker and no security footage was found in the area where Emmanuel, the youngest of Haro’s six children, disappeared.
“Investigators from our Specialized Investigations Division are continuing to investigate the reported kidnapping of a seven-month-old, after the child’s mother reported being attacked outside a retail store on Yucaipa Boulevard last night,” police wrote on X on Aug. 15. “K9 scent-tracking dogs were deployed but the child was not located. No suspect information is available at this time.”
In an update over the weekend, the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department said the mother’s initial statement had inconsistencies and that she ended the interview with investigators when confronted about them.
“Investigators interviewed multiple individuals, including Emmanuel’s parents Jake and Rebecca Haro. During those interviews, Rebecca was confronted with inconsistencies in her initial statement and declined to continue with the interview,” the department said in a statement on Aug. 16, but did not elaborate on the inconsistencies they found.
On Wednesday, the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department said it is aware of reported sightings of Emmanuel Haro, but no other details were provided.
Earlier this week, a car belonging to the child’s father was seized by authorities.
The sheriff’s department released a statement on Aug. 20 with an update on the continued search.
“We know the community is deeply concerned about this case and we will continue to provide information, to the extent it does not jeopardize the investigation,” the agency said. “Our investigators have followed up on the reported sightings of 7-month-old Emmanuel Haro, but he has not yet been located.
“While Emmanuel’s father has retained an attorney, if the parents choose to work with detectives, we welcome their cooperation as we continue efforts to locate Emmanuel.”
The department also noted there was a fire reported in the neighbourhood near the Haro home and that they had been in contact with investigators regarding the incident.
“At this time, we have no information indicating the fire is related, and we will continue to communicate with fire investigators as their investigation progresses,” they added. “Emmanuel continues to be the main focus of this investigation, and we will continue our efforts to locate him.”
Authorities describe Emmanuel as 21 pounds and approximately 24 inches tall, with brown hair and brown crossed eyes. He was last seen wearing a black Nike onesie.
N.S. missing kids: Court documents provide details on Lilly and Jack Sullivan case
By Keith Doucette and Sidhartha Banerjee The Canadian Press
Posted August 22, 2025 9:19 am
Updated August 23, 2025 7:53 am
6 min read
Newly released court documents are revealing previously unreported details of the investigation into the disappearance of two young children from their home in rural northeastern Nova Scotia more than three months ago.
The information is contained in court applications filed by investigators for permission to conduct searches for phone records, banking records, and video related to the case. The documents include unproven statements made by police. Those documents were released to The Canadian Press and other news outlets. Many of them contain redactions.
2:14
Nova Scotians still desperate for answers in the case of the missing Sullivan children
According to one document, sworn by Cpl. Charlene Jordan Curl of the RCMPs Northeast Nova Scotia major crime unit, the children were first reported missing on 10:01 a.m. on May 2 from their home in rural Lansdowne Station, N.S., by their mother Malehya Brooks-Murray.
Brooks-Murray told police she believed the two children had wandered away from home, but the exact time she said she thought they went missing was redacted. Police were on the scene at 10:27 a.m.
0:50
Missing Nova Scotia kids: Pink blanket belonging to Lilly Sullivan being examined, RCMP say
The document says the last time the children were seen outside their home was on May 1, when they were captured by video surveillance at a local Dollarama store with Brooks-Murray and Daniel Martell, their stepfather.
RCMP conducted at least four polygraphs during their investigation — the first two were on May 12 with the children’s parents at the detachment at Bible Hill, N.S. Martell’s polygraph “indicated he was truthful,” as did the test for Brooks-Murray that found she was truthful when answering specific questions, although the list of questions is redacted in the document.
An unidentified investigator’s comment included at the end of a section on the results of both of those polygraphs says, “At this point in the investigation Jack and Lilly’s disappearance is not believed to be criminal in nature.”
“I do not have reasonable grounds to believe a criminal offence has occurred. Because Jack and Lilly are still missing, polygraph examinations were conducted with the intention of ruling out that possibility.”
Martell told The Canadian Press on May 28 that he had passed a polygraph test, but the RCMP declined at the time to confirm or deny his claim.
Results from polygraphs, which measure fluctuations within a person’s sympathetic nervous system as they answer questions, are not admissible in Canadian courts, but the machines are considered an investigative tool.
Meanwhile, on June 10, the children’s stepgrandmother, Janie MacKenzie, underwent a polygraph examination but another document notes that her “physiology was not suitable for analysis and an opinion on the polygraph examination was not rendered.” The children’s biological father, Cody Sullivan, underwent a polygraph on June 12, 2025, and passed the examination, with his answers found to be “truthful.”
In July, the Mounties said they were running forensic tests on a pink blanket found during the search of the heavily wooded areas near the children’s home. Police said at the time that the family had confirmed the blanket belonged to Lilly, but investigators released few details.
0:50
Case of missing N.S. kids hits 2-month mark with no answers
The newly released documents shed more light on that part of the investigation, saying three family members found the blanket in a tree on Lansdowne Station Road on May 2, exactly one kilometre from the family home. A photo was shown to the mother and stepfather who confirmed it was Lilly’s.
Later, police dispatched a sniffer dog to the area where the blanket was found, but the animal was unable to pick up a scent of Lilly or Jack, the documents say. On May 4, another piece of blanket was seized by police after it was found inside a trash bag at the end of the driveway of the children’s home, according to police.
Police say they confirmed both pieces were part of the same blanket.
Among the numerous court orders sought by police, was one for the Cobequid Pass, a tolled section of highway in Nova Scotia. Specifically, the RCMP were looking for video records including closed circuit footage of all cameras of drivers leaving Nova Scotia between May 1, 2025, at 2:25 p.m. to May 3, 2025, at 3 a.m.
One of the documents says that On May 3, police received a report that Jack and Lilly might be with their biological father. Police received a pair of messages about this early on May 3, but the report notes the caller, who was unnamed, did not have any proof and “she just wanted to make sure every possibility is looked into.” According to the request for Cobequid Pass toll plaza vids, “Malehya later reported to police that she thought Cody Sullivan, Lilly and Jack’s biological father, might have picked up them and taken them to New Brunswick.”
Police later met with Sullivan on May 22. The court document said he told police he had been in a relationship with the mother but had not seen her nor the children in three years. He said he paid child support, contrary to what Brooks-Murray had told police.
“He said he did not know what happened to Jack and Lilly,” police noted.
“He was home on May 2, 2025, and never goes anywhere. He has not been anywhere other than his house recently and has had no contact with Malehya since the children went missing.”
The documents say police had received hundreds of tips in the case, including one from a witness who said she was travelling with her sons on the morning of May 2 and saw two children walking along the side of the road.
Natasha Haywood informed the RCMP on May 31. She described seeing a young girl holding a young boy’s hand — the boy had dirty blond hair and was wearing shorts, while the girl had darkish hair in pigtails and was wearing a tank top with blue strings. According to police, she said the children were walking toward a Caucasian female of about 50-60 years old with a “loose curl” haircut, who was waiting next to the passenger side of an older model tan or gold sedan with the backdoor open.
The documents say that in early June, police met with the witness near the corner of Gairloch Road and Lansdowne Station Road, where she mentioned having seen the children walking north towards Westville, N.S., and that the vehicle appeared to be waiting for them.
When she later met with police, Haywood said she thought the girl was around 9 or 10-years-old and the boy five-years-old, the documents say.
Investigators are working to find out if the children were indeed Jack and Lilly, the document noted.
“None of the tips so far have led to Jack and Lilly’s location or has any information that has been corroborated by the investigation,” a document notes.
Almost 30 years after her disappearance, the family of murder victim Kristin Smart has filed a lawsuit against the college where she attended school.
The suit, filed against California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, lists three complaints about the school: negligence, negligent infliction of emotional distress, and wrongful death.
The family alleges that those close to Smart quickly reported her missing when she disappeared after an off-campus party in May 1996, but that campus police wanted to wait until after Memorial Day weekend to take a missing persons report.
FILE – Cal Poly students laid out flowers, lit candles, burned essence and wrote well-wishing notes on a chalkboard to Kristin Smart and her family during a candlelight vigil on April 13, 2021. Getty Images
“Cal Poly’s breaches of its legal duty include but are not limited to the following: it did not pursue a missing person case promptly, did not interview witnesses timely, did not seal the primary suspect’s dorm room as a crime scene, allowed the suspect’s room to be sanitized and cleaned before it was searched, and did not search the suspect’s room until 16 days after Kristin disappeared,” the family stated in the lawsuit, according to NBC.
Paul Floreswas arrested in 2021 in connection with the death and was convicted of first-degree murder in October of 2022. He was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
Flores and Smart were both students at the school and prosecutors said he was the last person seen with a very intoxicated Smart when he walked her home from the party.
Smart’s body has never been found. In 2002, investigators declared her legally dead.
Smart’s family alleges that the university received other reports about Flores “on the basis of his threatening, stalking and harassing behaviour” before Smart was murdered, but failed to investigate them properly.
FILE – Paul Flores listens during his murder trial in Monterey County Superior Court in Salinas, Calif., Monday, July 18, 2022. Daniel Dreifuss / Monterey County Weekly via AP, Pool
In one case, Flores allegedly tried to break into a student’s apartment, according to the lawsuit.
"If Cal Poly had properly acted on those reports, conducted an investigation, and appropriately disciplined the student, he would not have been on campus, and therefore would not have been able to murder Kristin,” the lawsuit states.
In an email, Cal Poly spokesperson Matt Lazier told NBC the university had no comment because “this is a pending legal matter.”
Last May, however, university president Jeffrey Armstrong issued a public apology to the Smart family.
“While it is a different administration now than was in place in 1996, we recognize that things should had been done differently — and I personally wish that they had,” he said.
According to the lawsuit, it was Armstrong’s apology that tipped the Smart family off to the school’s alleged negligence. They realized they were never given access to the university’s investigative file.
"Even now, the Smart family still does not know what information, in the possession of Cal Poly’s president, and uniquely available to him and or Cal Poly, led him to make the apology,” the suit said.
Smart’s family is seeking monetary damages from the school.
