Nonprofit Took Kickbacks Instead of Helping Priests' Sex Abuse Victims, Lawsuit Claims

In this day of fake news, alternate facts and astroturfing, nothing seems to be as it appears. If this lawsuit is factual, it means that even some NGOs that are formed to help child sex abuse victims may be revictimizing the survivors by failing to provide the real help they need to recover.

Gretchen Rachel Hammond is suing Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP). 

BY REUVEN BLAU, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

A nonprofit set up to help sex abuse victims of priests gets financial kickbacks for referring cases to attorneys seeking to sue the Catholic Church, a new lawsuit alleges.

A former employee of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) brought up the case, saying the group fired her in February 2013 after she complained to bosses about the collusion.

"Attorneys and SNAP base their strategy not on the best interests of the survivor, but on what will generate the most publicity and fundraising opportunities for SNAP," the suit filed last Thursday in Illinois federal court says.

The fired staffer, Gretchen Rachel Hammond, was hired in 2011 to do fundraising for the group, according to the suit.

Instead, she was regularly forced to handle calls from victims seeking basic counseling assistance.

SNAP says it tries to connect with as many clergy abuse victims as possible and prevent further assaults through advocacy and education.

A new lawsuit says SNAP took kickbacks in exchange for referring potential clients to lawyers. (@SNAPNETWORK VIA TWITTER)

But the lawsuit charges that's not the case.

"In reality, SNAP is a commercial operation motivated by its directors' and officers' personal and ideological animus against the Catholic Church," the suit says.

The organization also does not employ any grief counselors and ignores calls from victims seeking that assistance, the suit alleges.

And SNAP "squanders funds meant for survivors," the legal papers say.

Hammond says she oversaw a fundraising drive to pay for SNAP's trip to the Hague, where the group filed charges against Pope Benedict in the International Criminal Court.

But the money was used "to pay for lavish hotels and other extravagant travel expenses for its leadership," the suit says.

"SNAP also uses funds meant to assist survivors on its own legal troubles," according to the complaint.

SNAP president Barbara Blaine strenuously defended the advocacy group.

"The allegations are not true," she said in a statement. "This will be proven in court. SNAP leaders are now, and always have been, devoted to following the SNAP mission: to help victims heal and to prevent further sexual abuse."

Thank you to the many people who Tweeted this story to me.

Pakistani Women’s Rights Group Wins French Prize for Conflict Prevention

    Video by Taha SIDDIQUI  1:48

by FRANCE 24

Aware Girls, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that advocates for women’s rights in Pakistan, was awarded a prize for conflict prevention on Thursday by the Jacques Chirac foundation.

The NGO has fought for women’s rights and equal access to education, health and other services since 2002, in direct opposition to Pakistan’s conservative social values and religious traditions.

Their activism, however, has not been without risk.

“You try to change the system and those who are beneficiaries of the old system try to resist and want to hurt you. They do propaganda against you so to suppress you. They scare you so much that you go silent," Gulalai Ismail, founder of Aware Girls, told FRANCE 24.

NGO Raising Awareness of Child Sex Abuse in Malaysia

Raising Public Awareness On Child Sex Abuse

Is Key To Prevention - NGO

The NGO said the public must be educated on the types of child sexual abuse as the knowledge would enable them to detect any signs of a child being abused and report it to the relevant authority.

KUALA LUMPUR: Raising public awareness on child abuse is important to address the problem, said the secretary on a non-government organisation, known as Project Layang-Layang, Petra Gimbad.

She said the public must be educated on the types of child sexual abuse as the knowledge would enable them to detect any signs of a child being abused and report it to the relevant authority.

"Programmes organised by Project Layang-layang are intended to provide such knowledge to participants, so that adults and children know what sexual crime is.

"Most often, parents felt helpless when their children are sexually abused or assaulted. Project Layang-Layang is set up to provide support to such parents and children," she told Bernama during a forum on 'Child sexual Abuse – What Are You Doing To Stop It' here recently.

One of the speakers at the forum, Dr Zahilah Filzah Zulkifli, who heads the Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect (SCAN) team at a government hospital, said for every one reported case of child sexual abuse in the country, nine often went unreported.

She said the sign of a child been violated was hard to prove as any sign of penetration in children resulting in wounds would only take 20 to 40 hours to heal.

"The healing process in children is much faster. Therefore, when a child comes for a check-up to prove if she or he has been sexually violated, it is already too late." she added.

As such, she said, it was imperative for parents to have the knowledge about child sexual abuse as prevention.

To learn more on Projek Layang-Layang, visit their page at www.facebook.com/projeklayang2 or email them at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..">projeklayanglayang@gmail.com.

-Bernama