WASHINGTON (DC)
The Hill [Washington, DC]
March 14, 2026
By Teresa Huizar
When a child sexual abuse scandal breaks, the public response is predictable: shock, outrage, promises of reform. But in the months and years that follow, institutions often evade accountability. They lawyer up. Records stay hidden. Survivors who finally come forward are silenced by the legal system itself.
Powerful institutions — from churches and youth organizations to schools and hospitals — are using bankruptcy laws to escape punishment for ignoring or covering up child sexual abuse. The authors of these statutes never anticipated this kind of abuse of the system. Congress must update our bankruptcy laws to close this loophole.
Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code was designed to help honest businesses that are unable to pay back their debts. It allows companies and other institutions to keep operating while they restructure their obligations and negotiate with creditors.
But to provide that stability, Chapter 11 gives organizations the ability to pause lawsuits and reshape legal proceedings. And unfortunately, many institutions responsible for child sexual abuse have learned how to weaponize these legal tools to shield themselves from responsibility.
When an organization files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, it triggers an automatic stay that freezes all lawsuits, including civil suits filed by sexual abuse survivors. Most importantly, “discovery” — the legal process that forces organizations to turn over internal records, personnel files and other evidence that can reveal negligence or a cover-up — comes to a halt.
The trend has accelerated as more states extend statutes of limitations for child sexual abuse claims. In 2023, Maryland eliminated the civil statute of limitations for such cases. Just days before the law took effect, the Archdiocese of Baltimore filed for Chapter 11 — immediately routing survivors into a bankruptcy claims process. A New York Boys and Girls Club filed for bankruptcy after fielding abuse claims from nearly 150 survivors.
In court, survivors are treated not as victims in a public courtroom, but as creditors, forced to fill out claim forms while the institution negotiates privately with insurers and lawyers in closed-door mediation sessions.
And that’s only for the survivors who have already come forward. For many victims of child sexual abuse, disclosure takes decades. Yet bankruptcy judges often impose strict “bar dates” — filing deadlines that can permanently shut out those who aren’t yet ready or able to tell their stories. Research shows that most victims don’t disclose their experience with child sexual abuse until their 40s or 50s, long after those deadlines may have passed.
The trend has accelerated as more states extend statutes of limitations for child sexual abuse claims. In 2023, Maryland eliminated the civil statute of limitations for such cases. Just days before the law took effect, the Archdiocese of Baltimore filed for Chapter 11 — immediately routing survivors into a bankruptcy claims process. A New York Boys and Girls Club filed for bankruptcy after fielding abuse claims from nearly 150 survivors.
In court, survivors are treated not as victims in a public courtroom, but as creditors, forced to fill out claim forms while the institution negotiates privately with insurers and lawyers in closed-door mediation sessions.
And that’s only for the survivors who have already come forward. For many victims of child sexual abuse, disclosure takes decades. Yet bankruptcy judges often impose strict “bar dates” — filing deadlines that can permanently shut out those who aren’t yet ready or able to tell their stories. Research shows that most victims don’t disclose their experience with child sexual abuse until their 40s or 50s, long after those deadlines may have passed.
Fortunately, Congress can put a stop to this strategy. The law already recognizes that bankruptcy is not meant to erase accountability in certain instances. For example, people are not allowed to discharge debts arising from fraud, willful injury, child support or even unpaid taxes. By the same token, organizations should not be allowed to use bankruptcy law to evade accountability for child abuse.
Congress has already created other exceptions, like in asbestos cases, to ensure victims can seek compensation even many years after the initial harm occurred. Ending automatic stays in abuse cases, banning third-party releases and guaranteeing victims the right to be heard before any reorganization plan is approved would help prevent organizations from using bankruptcy to evade accountability for abuse.
We’ve seen what happens when we look away. From the Catholic Church to the Boy Scouts, bankruptcy has become a way to manage rather than confront liability for abuse. And when institutions don’t face pressure to change, the same failures are almost guaranteed to repeat themselves, with children paying the price.
But if institutions could no longer escape accountability through bankruptcy, the calculus would shift. Leaders would face a clear choice: invest in real oversight and prevention, respond swiftly and transparently when abuse occurs, or face real financial consequences.
Under our current bankruptcy system, the victims lose twice: first to the abuse itself, then to a legal system that treats them like entries on a balance sheet. We need to change that and build a system that makes it harder to hide abuse than to prevent it.
Teresa Huizar is CEO of Washington, D.C.-based National Children’s Alliance, the nation’s network of nearly 1,000 Children’s Advocacy Centers, providing justice and healing through services to child victims of abuse and their families.