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	The Child Victims Act in New York State Needs Your Help! Good Hard Working People June 24, 2009 http://goodhardworkingpeople.blogspot.com/2009/06/help-survivors-of-child-abuse-from-new.html As many of you know there is a "Statute of Limitations" (SOL) when it comes to holding child abusers accountable. A "Statute of Limitations" is the maximum amount of time one has to bring a lawsuit from the time of the injury of other ground for a lawsuit. When it comes to abuse of children, most survivors don't speak up and seek justice until they are adults (for many reasons including the ability to realize and comprehend what happened to them as children and the process of overcoming the shame and guilt, which is sadly common among victims). As you can imagine, by the time an abused child is an adult, the "Statute of Limitations" has often expired. The abuser continues to break the law and harm children and is never held accountable. In 2002 the California legislature passed amendments to its statute of limitations on child sex abuse, essentially opening a "window", which gave survivors one year (2003) to file claims even if the statute of limitations for their claims already had expired. The New York Legislation is now considering such a "window" to give sex abuse victims the opportunity to seek justice and for the criminals to be held accountable even if the SOL has expired. "There are two competing bills in the Legislature--the Duane/Markey Bill (S2568/A2596) also known as the Child Victims Act (CVA) favored by advocates for children and victims of abuse, and the Kruger/Lopez Bill (S3107-A/A5708-A) favored by the Catholic Church." (from the VOTF website) As you can imagine I support the Duane/Markey Bill and urge you to do the same. There is even a possibility that this will directly effect the MKs who survived abuse at their missionary boarding school featured in All God's Children - because the headquarters of the overseeing mission-sending organization and Church (Christian and Missionary Alliance) was in Nyack, New York, during the time the children were abused overseas by C&MA missionaries.
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