Reports of a man charged with sexually abusing at least five boys while working at a Duluth youth care facility underscore the need for employers to rigorously vet, train and supervise their employees to prevent child sexual abuse.Mark David Painter, 28, of Hermantown, Minn., was charged last week with sexually abusing at least five boys ranging from ages 13-17 while working at Hills Youth and Family Services in Duluth. The facility, formerly known as Woodland Hills, offers after school care, mental health services and treatment for adjudicated youths.Police responded to a report of three…
News & Events
On Tuesday, the Hawaii Legislature opened a retroactive window for sexual abuse survivors to come forward and file a claim against their alleged perpetrators, as well as against institutions, businesses, corporations or other public or private entities associated with the perpetrators. The window gives survivors until April 24, 2020, to bring these cases, including survivors who were barred by statutes of limitations before the legislation was enacted. The law applie…
National
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Awareness Month is observed each year in
the month of June to recognize the impact that PTSD has on the lives of those
who are affected by it. According to the National Center
for PTSD,
about seven or eight of every 100 people will experience PTSD at some point in
their lives. Women are more than twice as likely as men to
develop PTSD, and survivors of sexual abuse are particularly at risk.
The
National
Institute of Mental Health charac…
News that a boy’s severe stomach pain led to the conviction of a serial child molester in Georgia recently is a reminder that adults need to be aware of common signs that a child has been abused or traumatized. And when something just doesn’t add up regarding a child’s condition, either visibly or after the child tells you something is wrong, take it seriously – ask questions, investigate and consider seeking medical help for the child. If you suspect a child has been abused, you can also contact law enforcement or a local child protection agency.In December 2016, a 15-year-old boy’s…
A new study shows that the annual economic impact of child sexual abuse in the United States exceeds $9 billion. This staggering number and the tragic conditions leading to it highlight the need for one thing:Prevention.In the study, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that the $9.3 billion annual economic cost of child sexual abuse included costs associated with health care, child welfare, special education, violence and crime, suicide and survivor productivity losses. The Johns Hopkins researchers stressed that the estimate of the economic burden of child sexual abuse…
All around the world, from Pennsylvania, to Chile, to Australia, the Catholic Church continues to fight truth and transparency. By now, one would hope that the institution has learned from its past mistakes when it covered up the sexual abuse of children by the Church’s priests, bishops and other clerics. Unfortunately, this is not the case.In Pennsylvania, the Attorney General is wrapping up investigations involving six Catholic dioceses, including Allentown, Scranton, Erie, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg and Greensburg. Three of the dioceses have publicly stated they will not challenge the release o…
Bill Cosby’s sexual assault conviction last week showed that no one is above the law. But it was a rare victory for sexual assault survivors, as a report released last week by Ramsey County starkly illustrates. One celebrity conviction does not fix a system that too often mistreats survivors.The Ramsey County report was the result of a two-year review of sexual assault cases in the county. The review found that sexual assault reports all too often do not result in charges. Among other things, the review found that of 646 cases reviewed, only about 30 percent were referred by investigator…
An Australian magistrate’s decision Tuesday that Cardinal George Pell shall stand trial by jury for historical sex abuse charges is a victory for survivors and the rule of law.One survivor’s advocate, Phil Nagle, called it a “historical day for survivors of Ballarat,” Pell’s hometown, in which several priests were accused of misconduct. “It’s good to see him being treated like any other citizen in court,” he said.Ann Barrett Doyle of BishopAccountability.org, an online abuse resource, called the magistrate’s decision that Pell stand trial “a turning point in the global abuse crisis in the Cath…
One of the themes for this year’s ”Child Abuse Prevention Month” is “Every child deserves to grow up feeling safe and loved.” While many children do grow up in homes, schools, places of worship and communities where they are safe and loved, many do not. Statistics provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that 1 in 4 children have experienced abuse or neglect at some point in their lives and 1 in 7 experienced abuse or neglect in the past year. Child abuse and neglect are preventable. We all play a role in creating safe, stable and caring…
This week marks the beginning of both Child Abuse Prevention Month and Sexual Assault Awareness Month. This April, we urge you to join the child protection movement. Whether you are a survivor of child abuse, a relative or close friend of a survivor, or an advocate working to support survivors, the movement needs you. As advocates and survivors, you and we have the power to change the conversation around child abuse and sexual assault.Throughout the past year, sexual abuse and sexual harassment have been at the forefront of the news headlines. The “Time’s Up” and #MeToo movements have sparked …
The time to tell the full truth is now. In analyzing the Diocese of
Buffalo’s disclosure of 42 names of priests with allegations of child
sexual abuse, several questions remain unanswered
On February 15, 2018, our firm held a press conference in Long Island, NY, and exposed the name of a predatory priest, Fr. Peter Charland, who found a path to his victims through musical youth groups in the parishes he was assigned to. By all accounts, Fr. Charland was a charismatic, charming leader who coerced his way into children’s lives through well-known grooming tactics. Survivor, Steven Werner, a former member of the P.J. Folk Singers led by Fr. Charland, courageously spoke at the press conference and acknowledged that the abuse he suffered at the hands of Fr. Charland was…
In Chile on Thursday, Pope Francis defended a bishop he appointed in 2015, even though the bishop was accused of protecting a pedophile priest. He went further and accused the priest’s victims of slandering the bishop, demanding that they provide “proof” of their allegations, even though Pope Francis apparently has refused to meet with all of the priest’s victims to discuss what they know.The Pope’s attack angered, horrified and re-traumatized survivors and is another, more frontal example of the Vatican protecting itself at the expense of clergy…
“Courage, my friends; ‘tis not too late to build a better world.” – Tommy DouglasThe past year will be remembered for many things but for us, one thing stood out from the turbulence of 2017:Courage.The courage of survivors to confront sexual abuse, sexual harassment and all forms of sexual misconduct in spite of their fears and the systems stacked against them amazed and inspired us in 2017. The groundswell that began with clergy sexual abuse survivors in the 1980s and 2000s, energized Bill Cosby and Harvey Weinstein survivors and emboldened survivors of sexual misconduct by priests…
A recent Jezebel story profiling survivor advocate Joelle Casteix is an inspiration and reminder to everyone fighting on behalf of sexual abuse survivors, that persistence pays off. For over a decade, Joelle has repeatedly demanded that her abuser, Thomas Hodgman, be fired from Adrian College in Michigan where he works as a music professor – a similar position he held when he sexually abused Joelle at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana when she was 15 years old. Joelle was inspired by the #MeToo movement that has swept the country in recent months, to write an open letter to Adrian College and…