In Today's News: "Warren County [NJ] has 'secret problem' with child abuse, official says"

This article, published in Lehigh Valley Live, highlights the efforts of officials and organizations in Warren County, NJ to prevent child sexual abuse.  Warren County is one of three counties in New Jersey to adopt the Enough Abuse Campaign (Referred to here as the "Enough Abuse" Program). 

Rush Russell, executive director of Prevent Child Abuse - New Jersey makes an important point when he points out that there aren't many child sexual abuse prevention programs designed to highlight adult responsibility - it is a different mindset where the responsibility for preventing sexually abusive behaviors is not solely that of the children targeted by abusers. Rather, our program gives parents and other 'stakeholder' adults education on this issue and training on steps they can take - from specific messages and talking points for their kids to recognizing warning signs in abusers and victims.

Warren County has 'secret problem' with child abuse, official says

By Tommy Rowan
The Express-Times
December 16, 2012 at 6:00 AM
http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/warren-county/express-times/index.ssf/2012/12/warren_county_child_abuse_proj.html 


In the more than 30 years Karen Kubert has worked for Warren County, she hasn't seen the child abuse rate improve.

"It's kind of a secret problem," she told county freeholders last month. "People don't talk about it."

Now they will.

Warren County has adopted a pilot program called "Enough Abuse," becoming one of three counties in New Jersey to implement a comprehensive child abuse prevention strategy.

In 2011, Warren County ranked 10th highest in New Jersey in percentage of confirmed cases of abuse and neglect, according to the State Department of Children and Families. Phillipsburg led the county with 745 reports, but only 58, or 7 percent, were substantiated, according to state statistics.

Hunterdon County had the highest percentage confirmed cases of abuse in the state: 847 cases with 137, or 16 percent, confirmed.

Click here to see a copy of the report.

Rush L. Russell, executive director of Prevent Child Abuse-New Jersey, met with Warren County leaders and officials from Project Self-Sufficiency of Sussex County. They reported seeing an increase in abuse cases from media reports and conversations with public health leaders and service providers around the county.

"They felt like they were seeing a significant increase," Russell said. "They described a situation where they had seen an increase in the number of reports ... around child sexual abuse in the last few years and were concerned."

Project Self-Sufficiency, which serves Warren, Sussex and Morris counties, is replicating the Enough Abuse program that originally launched in Massachusetts about 10 years ago with funding from the Centers for Disease Control. The Ms. Foundation for Women and Prevent Child Abuse America awarded Project Self-Sufficiency a $25,000 grant for the program.

The Enough Abuse program provides free training sessions to parents and other adults on steps they can take to prevent child abuse. Russell said there aren't many programs in New Jersey designed to prevent child abuse that focus on adult responsibility.

"[We've got to] change the mindset in terms of parents being able to talk to their kids and be able to recognize some of the warning signs that are out there so they can intervene before this happens," Russell said.

"I think this topic has kind of been swept under the table because people aren't comfortable talking about it," he said.

Hackettstown ranked second in Warren County with 201 reports of abuse with 17, or 8 percent, confirmed. Washington, N.J. reported 181 cases of abuse with 23 confirmed cases, and Belvidere reported 181 instances of abuse with 23 substantiated cases.

Nine municipalities reported no substantiated cases of abuse. The state reports 142 confirmed cases of abuse countywide. The 2011 abuse and neglect statistics provided by the state do not include cases investigated by the state and passed onto law enforcement for investigation.

Kubert, director of the Warren County's Department of Human Services, said that the county needs change.

"(The rate) is extraordinarily high," she said. "And I think people that work in the agencies decided maybe we ought to take a look at what we're doing and come up with some best practices and see if we can develop standards and then everybody can work toward those standards."

Statewide, officials reported 91,680 cases of abuse in 2011 with 9,414 confirmed cases. Essex County recorded the highest number of confirmed cases at 1,167.

Russell said this is just "the tip of the iceberg at best" and that an estimated 80 percent of abuse cases are never reported to authorities. A Centers for Disease Control 2010 study found that 1 in 4 girls under the age of 18 and about 1 in 7 boys experienced an incident of child sexual abuse.

Kubert said the prevention strategy should include not only parents, but professionals, store clerks and neighbors as critical partners to reduce child abuse.

"It's trying to touch on anyone that will come into contact with the child," she said.

In Today's News: Tennis Hall of Fame pivots, investigates Bob Hewitt

Tennis Hall of Fame pivots, investigates Bob Hewitt

Alleged abuse victims hail move

By Bob Hohler,  GLOBE STAFF
JULY 03, 2012
Original article found here


The International Tennis Hall of Fame, reversing course after months of inaction, is investigating allegations that Bob Hewitt, one of the greatest doubles players in the history of the sport, sexually abused nearly a dozen girls he coached in South Africa and the United States from the 1970s to 1990s, according to several of the alleged victims.

The Hall of Fame launched the inquiry after drawing criticism throughout the tennis community for dropping its plan last year to investigate the scandal. The organization has hired a Boston law firm — Hinckley, Allen & Snyder — to conduct the investigation and present its findings before the hall’s board of directors meet later this month in Newport, R.I.

The law firm was commissioned “to submit a confidential report to the executive committee to assist in deciding whether to suspend or take other action against Mr. Hewitt’s status as a Tennis Hall of Fame’’ member, according to an e-mail sent from the firm’s attorney, Michael J. Connolly, to one of the women Hewitt allegedly abused in South Africa. A copy of the e-mail was provided to the Globe.

The inquiry was welcomed as long overdue by Hewitt’s alleged victims, five of whom called last year for his removal from the hall after a Globe story detailed his history of alleged sexual misconduct.

Related
5/21: Tennis Hall of Fame not acting on Bob Hewitt
8/28/11: Former tennis star, coach accused in abuse of girls
Special section: Globe investigations

“This is half our battle won,’’ said Suellen Sheehan, who was 12 when, she said, Hewitt first had sex with her in South Africa.

The statute of limitations has expired on most of the allegations in the United States, but not in South Africa, where the National Prosecuting Authority is investigating Hewitt.

“For him, the abuse might have ended with his tennis career,’’ said Heather Crowe Conner, who had just turned 15 in 1976 when, she said, Hewitt, a former Boston Lobsters star, first had sex with her outside Masconomet Regional High School. “For the rest of us, the impact of that abuse continues to play itself out in our lives every day.’’

Hewitt, 72, who lives in rural Addo, South Africa, has not been charged with a crime. He has not spoken publicly about the case since last year, when he told the Globe, “I just want to forget about it,’’ and was quoted by the Weekend Post in South Africa as saying, “I only want to apologize if I offended anyone in any way.’’

Crowe Conner, now a teacher at Reading Memorial High School, said she has renewed hope that Hewitt one day will answer for the pain he allegedly caused her and the other women. She said she recently spoke at length with Connolly, a former federal prosecutor, about her allegations.

Connolly declined to comment, as did the hall, whose senior officials are attending the Wimbledon tournament in London and “are not readily accessible,’’ according to spokeswoman Anne Marie McLaughlin.

The hall’s executive director, Mark Stenning, said in May that the organization dropped its plan to investigate Hewitt in favor of drafting a policy to address similar issues in the future.

The decision triggered a backlash against the organization, as several prominent tennis figures voiced their support for the alleged victims. Among those who have spoken out is Billie Jean King, an inductee and life trustee of the hall.

In 1970, King partnered with Hewitt to win the mixed doubles title at the French Open.

“I’m not happy,’’ she recently told the Washingtonian magazine in her first public comments about the allegations. “I am very upset, and he needs to be in jail. If he’s guilty, which it looks like he is, he should be on trial. Of course, he’s innocent until proven guilty.’’

Child advocates in the United States and South Africa who have worked with Hewitt’s alleged victims were heartened by the inquiry.

“We applaud the Hall of Fame for acknowledging their responsibility to pursue the truth in this matter and give these women a fair opportunity to have their voices heard,’’ said Jetta Bernier, executive director of Massachusetts Citizens for Children, which campaigns against child sexual abuse. “This is an encouraging sign that youth-serving organizations are taking to heart lessons learned from the Catholic Church and Penn State scandals.’’

While hundreds of supporters of Hewitt’s alleged victims have petitioned the hall to remove him, Massachusetts Citizens for Children and its South African counterpart, Men & Women Against Abuse, have been considering joint efforts to pressure the hall to oust him, including picketing the organization’s induction ceremony July 14.

But news of the inquiry prompted them to suspend their protest plans. Instead, the advocates said, they will wait for the law firm to present its report and the hall to respond.

The hall’s earlier backpedaling posed a striking contrast to the US Gymastics Hall of Fame’s swift expulsion last year of an inductee facing similar allegations of sexually abusing girls he was coaching. Hewitt’s alleged victims and their supporters viewed the tennis hall’s inaction as emblematic of leaders throughout professional tennis distancing themselves from the scandal.

In South Africa, where tennis officials have shown little interest in investigating Hewitt, advocates for the alleged victims said the hall’s inquiry has raised hopes that South African prosecutors will soon will file charges against Hewitt.

“We trust our criminal justice system will provide an opportunity for the truth to emerge,’’ said Luke Lamprecht, a spokesman for the Men & Women Against Abuse.

Sheehan, who was the first of Hewitt’s alleged victims in South Africa to seek criminal charges this year, said she was frightened by a threatening voicemail she received in May after she was quoted in the Globe about the hall’s decision not to investigate Hewitt. The Star newspaper of South Africa reported that the voicemail, which Sheehan forwarded to the Globe, was left by a woman from a phone number in Addo, South Africa.

Sheehan said police are investigating that allegation, among many others.

Read this article from the New York Times: Church Battles Efforts to Ease Sex Abuse Suits

Original article here

Church Battles Efforts to Ease Sex Abuse Suits

By Laurie Goodstein and Erik Eckholm

Published June 14, 2012

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia says statutes of limitations exist for “sound legal reasons.”

While the first criminal trial of a Roman Catholic church official accused of covering up child sexual abuse has drawn national attention to Philadelphia, the church has been quietly engaged in equally consequential battles over abuse, not in courtrooms but in state legislatures around the country.

The fights concern proposals to loosen statutes of limitations, which impose deadlines on when victims can bring civil suits or prosecutors can press charges. These time limits, set state by state, have held down the number of criminal prosecutions and civil lawsuits against all kinds of people accused of child abuse — not just clergy members, but also teachers, youth counselors and family members accused of incest.

Victims and their advocates in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and New York are pushing legislators to lengthen the limits or abolish them altogether, and to open temporary “windows” during which victims can file lawsuits no matter how long after the alleged abuse occurred.

The Catholic Church has successfully beaten back such proposals in many states, arguing that it is difficult to get reliable evidence when decades have passed and that the changes seem more aimed at bankrupting the church than easing the pain of victims.

Already reeling from about $2.5 billion spent on legal fees, settlements and prevention programs relating to child sexual abuse, the church has fought especially hard against the window laws, which it sees as an open-ended and unfair exposure for accusations from the distant past. In at least two states, Colorado and New York, the church even hired high-priced lobbying and public relations firms to supplement its own efforts. Colorado parishes handed out postcards for churchgoers to send to their representatives, while in Ohio, bishops themselves pressed legislators to water down a bill.

The outcome of these legislative battles could have far greater consequences for the prosecution of child molesters, compensation of victims and financial health of some Catholic dioceses, legal experts say, than the trial of a church official in Philadelphia, where the jury is currently deliberating.

Changing the statute of limitations “has turned out to be the primary front for child sex abuse victims,” said Marci A. Hamilton, a professor at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University who represents plaintiffs in sexual abuse suits.

“Even when you have an institution admitting they knew about the abuse, the perpetrator admitting that he did it, and corroborating evidence, if the statute of limitations has expired, there won’t be any justice,” she said.

The church’s arguments were forcefully made by Patrick Brannigan, executive director of the New Jersey Catholic Conference, in testimony before the State Legislature in January opposing a proposal to abolish the limits in civil cases.

“How can an institution conceivably defend itself against a claim that is 40, 50 or 60 years old?” Mr. Brannigan said. “Statutes of limitation exist because witnesses die and memories fade.”

“This bill would not protect a single child,” he said, while “it would generate an enormous transfer of money in lawsuits to lawyers.”

Timing is a major factor in abuse cases because many victims are unable to talk about abuse or face their accusers until they reach their 30s, 40s or later, putting the crime beyond the reach of the law. In states where the statutes are most restrictive, like New York, the cutoff for bringing a criminal case is age 23 for most serious sexual crimes other than rape that occurred when the victim was a minor.

In more than 30 states, limits have already been lifted or significantly eased on the criminal prosecutions of some types of abuses, according to Professor Hamilton. The Supreme Court ruled that changes in criminal limits cannot be retroactive, so they will affect only recent and future crimes.

In New York, the Catholic bishops said they would support a modest increase in the age of victims in criminal or civil cases, to 28. But their lobbying, along with that of ultra-Orthodox Jewish leaders, has so far halted proposals that would allow a one-year window for civil suits for abuses from the past. The bishops say the provision unfairly targets the church because public schools, the site of much abuse, and municipalities have fought successfully to be exempted.

The New Jersey proposal to abolish time limits for civil suits could pass this summer, said its sponsor in the Senate, Joseph Vitale, a Democrat of Woodbridge. The main opposition has come from the Catholic Church, he said. Mr. Brannigan of the Catholic Conference has testified at hearings, and bishops have “reached out to scores of legislators,” Mr. Vitale said, warning that an onslaught of lawsuits could bankrupt their dioceses.

California was the first state to pass a one-year “window” law to bring civil suits, in 2003, and those involved say that the legislation moved so quickly that the church barely responded. But the experience proved a cautionary tale for the church: more than 550 lawsuits flooded in.

Since then, only two states have passed similar laws: Delaware, in 2007, and Hawaii, in April. Window legislation has been defeated in Colorado, Ohio, Maryland, Illinois, Washington, D.C., and New York.

Joan Fitz-Gerald, former president of the Colorado Senate, who proposed the window legislation, was an active Catholic who said she was stunned to find in church one Sunday in 2006 that the archdiocese had asked priests to raise the issue during a Mass and distribute lobbying postcards.

“It was the most brutal thing I’ve ever been through,” she said of the church campaign. “The politics, the deception, the lack of concern for not only the children in the past, but for children today.” She has since left the church.

The Massachusetts Catholic Conference has spoken out strongly against a bill that would eliminate both criminal and civil statutes of limitations, but advocates still hope to win a two-year window for filing civil claims.

If that happens, “we’ll see a lot more victims come forward, and we’ll find out more about who the abusers are,” said Jetta Bernier, director of the advocacy group Massachusetts Citizens for Children.

The landmark trial of Msgr. William J. Lynn in Philadelphia, who is accused of allowing predators to remain in ministry, almost did not happen because of the statute of limitations.

A scathing grand jury report in 2005 described dozens of victims and offending priests and said that officials, including Philadelphia’s cardinal, had “excused and enabled the abuse.” But the law in place at the time of the crimes required victims to come forth by age 23. “As a result,” the report said, “these priests and officials will necessarily escape criminal prosecution.”

But victims emerged whose abuse fell within the deadline and in 2011, a new grand jury brought charges against Monsignor Lynn, who had supervised priest assignments.

Pennsylvania expanded the limits, and for crimes from 2007 on, charges will be possible up to the time that victims reach age 50. Advocates are now pushing to abolish the statute of limitations for child sex abuse and open a window for civil suits over long-past abuses. But the legislation appears stalled in the face of church opposition.

The new archbishop of Philadelphia, Charles J. Chaput, who led the successful campaign to defeat such a bill in Colorado, says that current restrictions exist for “sound legal reasons.”

A version of this article appeared in print on June 14, 2012, on page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Church Battles Efforts to Ease Sex Abuse Suits.

Ms. Foundation Grants $80K to Support the Enough Abuse Campaign

April 13, 2012 — Massachusetts Citizens for Children, also known as Mass Kids, a Boston-based nonprofit that advocates for the welfare of children, announced that it recently received an $80,000 grant from the Ms. Foundation for Women to fund a campaign that aims to end child sexual abuse.

Massachusetts Citizens for Children (MCC) is the lead agency for the Enough Abuse Campaign, an effort that helps communities build local coalitions to prevent child sexual abuse and provides tools and training to educate parents, youth, and a wide range of professionals about prevention strategies.

MCC Executive Director Jetta Bernier said, “This latest grant will help the campaign move closer to its goal, that by 2015 every city and town in Massachusetts will be actively engaged in preventing child sexual abuse in their homes and communities." 

The campaign, which launched in 2002, operates in Gloucester/Cape Ann, Orange/Athol, Newton/Waltham, Greater Springfield, Lowell, and in several western Massachusetts rural communities. MCC is looking to establish the campaign on Cape Cod and in Worcester County. 

Jetta noted that, following the recent Penn State child sex abuse scandal, which focused on child abuse allegations against a former assistant football coach dating back to the 1990s, many youth-serving organizations are eager to improve their policies around recruitment, hiring, and supervision and offer training about child sexual abuse prevention for staff and volunteers. 

Small to mid-size organizations, however, report they lack the resources and expertise that national organizations do to address the issue, she said. 

“The Ms. Foundation grant will help the campaign develop a cadre of consultants and trainers who can assist these organizations improve their capacity to keep children safe from sexual abuse in those settings,” according to Betta.

The Ms. Foundations has called the Enough Abuse Campaign "an effort that breaks the mold on child sexual abuse in many ways. It goes beyond a limited set of trainings to foster the building of real and lasting relationships among diverse stakeholders. Its emphasis on community collaboration truly sets it apart from previous efforts." 

An assessment of more than 3,000 parents and professionals who participated in community and state-level trainings, conducted by MCC, found that:

• 95% said the trainings helped them identify problem or abusive behaviors in adults
• 94% learned how to asses unhealthy sexual behaviors in children and to respond in appropriate and non-shaming ways to address them
• 95% learned where to go or who to talk to if they suspect someone is sexual abusing
• 98% would recommend the training to others

According to the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, “Child sexual abuse involves any sexual activity with a child where consent is not or cannot be given. This includes sexual contact that is accomplished by force or threat of force, regardless of the age of the participants, and all sexual contact between an adult and a child, regardless of whether there is deception or the child understands the sexual nature of the activity. 

"Sexual contact between an older and a younger child also can be abusive if there is a significant disparity in age, development, or size, rendering the younger child incapable of giving informed consent.”


Article titled "MassKids Gets $80K to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse" published via MassNonProfit:
http://www.massnonprofit.org/news.php?artid=2807&catid=12

Project Self-Sufficiency helps launch New Jersey 'Enough Abuse' Campaign

Published April 1, 2012
in the Warren Reporter


Legislators, social service organizations, municipal officials and educators convened in Newton on Friday to begin a local effort to combat child sexual assault. Sussex County nonprofit agency Project Self-Sufficiency has been chosen, along with only two other nonprofit organizations in the state of New Jersey, to take part in a ground-breaking effort to end child sexual abuse in partnership with Prevent Child Abuse – New Jersey. The agency will be joined by PEI Kids, located in Mercer County, and Wynona’s House, headquartered in Newark, as the first organizations in New Jersey to replicate the Enough Abuse Campaign throughout their communities.

The initiative aims to educate teens and adults about the nature and scope of child sexual abuse, and provide the tools necessary to protect children. For example, studies continue to show that many parents believe the major risk of child sexual abuse involves strangers, when in fact, up to 90% of sexual predators are actually known to the victim.

From left to right: Project Self-Sufficiency Program Coordinator
Claire Willetts; Enough Abuse [Campaign] Program Coordinator
Alison Lampron,; Project Self-Sufficiency Board of Directors
Beverly Gordon; Executive Director of Prevent Child
Abuse -€“ New Jersey Rush Russell; and Massachusetts
Citizens for Children Executive Director Jetta Bernier
gather to kick off the Enough Abuse child sexual
assault prevention campaign in Sussex and Warren Counties.

Prevent Child Abuse – New Jersey (PCA-NJ), the state chapter of Prevent Child Abuse America, is a nonprofit that works throughout the state to eliminate child abuse and neglect. “Child sexual abuse is a serious public health problem in New Jersey and causes devastating harm to victims,” said Rush Russell, Executive Director of PCA-NJ. “We congratulate these three communities for their courage and commitment to taking action now to prevent any child from being sexually abused, and we look forward to expanding the network of committed communities statewide.”

With funding support from the Ms. Foundation for Women and Prevent Child Abuse America, PCA-NJ has established the New Jersey Partnership to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse, bringing together experts from every sector and region of the State who share a commitment to preventing child sexual abuse. The Partnership is currently working on a new strategic plan for the State of New Jersey to strengthen efforts to prevent child sexual abuse, and will also help to oversee the three local community projects as they begin their work.

“Project Self-Sufficiency is proud to be partnering with Prevent Child Abuse – New Jersey in this important effort to eliminate child sexual abuse in northwestern New Jersey,” said Alison Lampron, Enough Abuse [Campaign]Program Coordinator. “This educational outreach program will build on Project Self-Sufficiency’s 25-year history of assisting families with their goals of becoming stable and economically self-sufficient. Protecting our children from harm is an adult responsibility, and we are confident that the Enough Abuse Campaign will help to prevent child sexual abuse and result in safer, more stable families in our community.”

The gathering featured keynote speaker and activist Jetta Bernier, who serves as the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Citizens for Children organization. Jetta provides leadership in the areas of child abuse prevention, family support, and child welfare, and directs the "Enough Abuse Campaign" in the state of Massachusetts. The Massachusetts initiative was funded through a 5-year grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 2002 to 2007, and is currently supported by the Ms. Foundation for Women.

Jetta is also Co-Chair of the Coalition to Reform Sex Abuse Laws, a grassroots coalition that succeeded in 2006 in extending Massachusetts’ criminal Statute of Limitations in cases of child sexual abuse and that is working to pass the Comprehensive Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Act of 2009 to address gaps in current laws.

“The Enough Abuse Campaign is all about action. We have got to take action to prevent child sexual abuse. There is not one particular program that will change society and the way it deals with child sexual abuse, so we must look to other public health initiatives. Social movements must have strategies on several fronts. houghtfully, diligently, we will educate people and encourage them to take action, and we will build this movement,” commented Jetta, noting that other social movements such as anti-smoking or the use of child safety helmets combined public education, with policy initiatives, collaborative planning and targeted intervention to cause behavioral change over time.
Project Self-Sufficiency is a private nonprofit community-based organization dedicated to improving the lives of low-income families residing in northwestern New Jersey. The agency’s mission is to provide a broad spectrum of holistic, respectful, and comprehensive services enabling low-income single parents, teen parents, two-parent families, and displaced homemakers to improve their lives and the lives of their children while achieving personal and economic self-sufficiency and family stability. Since 1986 Project Self-Sufficiency has served more than 19,500 families, including more than 30,000 children.

For information about the Enough Abuse [Campaign] community outreach program, or any of the other programs and services offered at Project Self-Sufficiency, call 973-940-3500.

Constitutional Lawyer Marci Hamilton reacts to latest developments on the MA Statute of Limitations fight:

An Historic Turning Point for Reforming Statutes of Limitations for Child Sex Abuse:News From Massachusetts, and MoreMARCH 23, 2012MARCI A. HAMILTONVerdict - Legal Analysis and Commentary from Jurista

Legions of victims of child sex abuse will tell you that when they were finally ready to talk to a prosecutor or a lawyer, the criminal and/or civil statutes of limitations (SOLs) had already expired.  Across the United States, one victim after another has been surprised by these cruel and arbitrary legal deadlines.

For decades, states have been adjusting their child sex abuse SOLs in response to fresh stories of horror.  At one time, states measured the SOL from the date of the abuse, giving victims only a few years in which to sue.  Then, they set age 18 as the moment when the clock started ticking.  Now, we have a true 50-state experiment, with a wide variety of approaches among the states.

There is one common theme, however:  States are constantly working to extend their child sex abuse SOLs, because there is always a new victim with a compelling story that shows lawmakers the folly of having any SOL at all for the heinous crime of child sex abuse.

The Situation in Massachusetts Regarding Child Sex Abuse Statutes of Limitations


That was precisely what was happening in Massachusetts when in 1996, the legislature extended the criminal SOL for child sex abuse to the date that marks 15 years after the victim turns 16.  But that SOL still shut down justice for too many victims, and so there was another extension, in 2006.  That year, the Massachusetts Legislature voted to extend the criminal SOL to 27 years after a victim turns 16.

That extension, however, still cut out victims like Rosanne Sliney, whose uncle abused her beginning when she was five, and ending when she was 14.  Another survivor, Kathy Picard, who came forward at age 32, also remains shut out by the SOLs—just missing each SOL extension, by just one year each time.  Like the vast majority of child abuse survivors, Sliney and Picard needed decades before they could come forward to talk about their abuse, and thus, they missed the state’s arbitrary limits.

Picard, along with other child sex abuse victims, is now campaigning hard to persuade Massachusetts legislators to eliminate the SOLs for child sex abuse altogether.  Right now, Massachusetts’s civil statute of limitations is only 3 years from either the victim’s 18^th birthday, or the discovery of the abuse.
Massachusetts now has a bill pending that would eliminate the criminal and civil SOLs for child sex abuse, as well as beef up the penalties for the failure to report such abuse, and set new requirements for the training of mandated reporters.  That bill, H 469, also called “The Protection from Sexual Predators Act of 2011,” would, if enacted, help hundreds of victims in Massachusetts and, at the same time, identify for parents the hidden predators in their midst.  It would also make Massachusetts the most recent state, after Delaware to pass groundbreaking legislation that includes elimination of both civil and criminal SOLs for all claims into the future.

In an Increasing Number of States, the Tide Is Turning in Favor of Legislation to Abolish Child Sex Abuse Statutes of Limitations Entirely—but the Catholic Bishops Are Fighting the New Laws


Massachusetts would still have Sliney and Picard on the sidelines unless it adds a window, which would permit, for a limited number of years, those victims whose civil claims have expired a chance go to court.  Similar statute-of-limitations window legislation was passed in Minnesota, California, Delaware, and Guam, and is now pending in New York, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Hawaii.

Finally, the tide is turning in favor of such legislation.  The Catholic Bishops have made the defeat of child sex abuse SOL reform a top priority in every state where it has been introduced, and particularly the window.  While they have occasionally been able to recruit allies—such as, for example, Agudath Israel in New York—the bishops are still the ones who have taken the lead on fighting against child sex abuse victims, including incest survivors (such as Kathy Picard and Rosanne Sliney), who make up the majority of survivors.

The Catholic Bishops have trotted out the same bag of arguments in each state.  First, they say it isn’t “fair” to let them be sued when “memories fade and witnesses die.”  Their narcissistic insistence that state legislators must put “fairness” to them ahead of justice for the victims speaks for itself.

Moreover, that position is primarily intended to deflect legislators from focusing on two key facts: (1) eliminating the SOL does not change the burdens of proof, which rest first on the victim; if the victim doesn’t have enough evidence to support the claim, no defense need be raised; and (2) the primary source of information on the abuse of children in organizations is typically material that is in the organization’s own files, and this is particularly true for dioceses.  Thus, the Bishops’ objection, despite its undoubted surface appeal, has no actual content.

The Bishops’ Claim That Churches Will Face “Bankruptcy” Is Spurious
Second, the Bishops always say that they will be “bankrupted” by such cases.  If they mean that they will file voluntary bankruptcy in order to reduce the payouts to victims and to flush out all victims so that they can avoid further claims in the future, then they are right.  But that would be their own choice, not a result of indigency.

If the Bishops mean that they will not have enough resources to pay the claims, they are misleading the public and their own believers.  The damages payments by the dioceses to victims so far have been paid by insurance (yes, they have insurance coverage for cases in which they have negligently supervised their employees who abuse children), and by the sale of property that is not devoted to religious use, such as office or apartment buildings, hotels, or empty lots.  The largest payout in American history came from the Los Angeles Archdiocese, which had built anextravagant cathedral at a cost of over $189 million just five years before. Thus, this argument, too, is a big fat red herring.

It is a simple fact that the Bishops, regardless of what they say in public about “fairness” and money, just don’t want the full truth to emerge into the sunshine.  There are likely hundreds of unnamed priests who abused children in the New York Archdiocese alone.  The hundreds of thousands—indeed, likely millions—of parishioners’ donation dollars that have been spent on lobbying against the New York SOL window and modest extensions is, in all likelihood, motivated most by the Bishops’ consuming and poisonous fear of the truth.

The Bishops have not turned the corner on the sexual abuse by their clergy—far from it—and they never will do so, unless they release the full truth of these matters, which is currently buried in their files.  In fact, they cannot avoid the inevitable release of the information at issue, because the truth is also carved into the hearts, souls, and memories of their victims, whose voices are rising.

Massachusetts May Be the Setting for a Key Child Sex Abuse SOL Turning Point


The turning point appears to have come in Massachusetts, where Rep. Eugene O’Flaherty did all he could to keep the SOL reform bill from making it out of his House Judiciary Committee.  Yet, after he was attacked for choosing the pedophile’s side against the safety of children, he not only backed off his original position, but resigned as Chair of the Judiciary Committee.  The bill is actually going to the House floor.  At last, a legislator so felt the heat of the victims’ pent-up agony that he chose to cut and run.

There are other legislators just like O’Flaherty, in New York and Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, who are still carrying the standard for the bishops against the victims.  But they too will have to move aside—or else embrace their role as protectors of the pedophiles.  The incest victims, our most silent of survivors till now, are joining their voices to those of the organizational victims.  They all deserve their day in court.

Marci Hamilton, a Justia columnist, is the Paul R. Verkuil Chair in Public Law at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and author ofJustice Denied: What America Must Do to Protect Its Children(Cambridge 2008). A review of Justice Denied appeared on June 25, 2008. Her previous book is God vs. the Gavel: Religion and the Rule of Law (Cambridge University Press 2005), now available in paperback. Her latest book is Fundamentalism, Politics, and the Law (Palgrave Macmillan 2011) (co-edited with Mark J. Rozell). Her email is hamilton02@aol.com.

A "Show of Hands" in Waltham, MA

Enough Abuse Campaign supporters in Waltham, MA host an event to push for repeal of the state's Statute of Limitations law. Children and adults show their support by a Show of Hands that proclaims "ENOUGH!" ... enough silence, enough shame, enough denial, enough child sexual abuse.

Waltham Native Pushes for New Sex Abuse Laws

Advocates to hold rally on March 14.
In the Waltham Patch: view here
by Ryan Grannan-Doll


A Waltham native who alleges her uncle sexually abused her when she was a child is pushing for the repeal of the criminal statue of limitaitions on sexual abuse crimes.

Rosanne Sliney, a Burlington resident who hails from Waltham, joined others on Friday, March 2, to call for the passage of a bill that would eliminate the criminal statute of limitations for sex abuse crimes.

“Hopefully … people will feel more accepting to come forward,” Sliney told Waltham Patch shortly before the rally event held at the American Legion on Waverly Oaks Road. “The people of Waltham have just been so supportive. It's been really incredibly wonderful."

Passage of the bill would encourage more alleged victims to report their abuse, Sliney said.

Sliney, who recently filed a civil lawsuit allgeging her uncle sexually abused her when she was a child, is just one of the people pushing for the passage of the bill, which she she said hopefully will gain additional support. Sliney and others are scheduled to hold a rally at the State House on Wednesday, March 14.

Despite their recent efforts, the bill has stalled in the legislature even though a majority of lawmakers on the Judiciary Committee support it, according to Jetta Bernier, the executive director of Massachusetts Citizens For Children. She made the comments during a press conference Sliney held to announce her lawsuit.

Currently, the statute of limitations expires 27 years after the alleged victim's 16th birthday, according to Bernier.

Supporters of the bill raised awareness of the issue during last week's Legion party. A survey of 151 participants indicated 77 percent had been sexually abused, according to Dee Vanaria, a friend of Sliney's helping to pass the bill. Also, participants traced the outline of their hands and plan to deliver that to lawmakers as a show of support, Vanaria said. Around $1,760 was raised over the ENOUGH campaign which calls for the end of sexual abuse, according to Vanaria.

Looking ahead to the March 14 rally, Vanaria hopes passage of the bill would greatly assist victims.

“It allows that person time process it,” she said, referring to the impact eliminating the statue of limitations would have.

Isis Interview with MCC: Each Child Should be Cherished

Written on February 17, 2012 by Isis Staff in In The News

The "Cherish Mug" is adorned with the MCC logo and available for purchase at Isis Parenting and on the MCC website.

Isis Parenting is proud to support Massachusetts Citizens for Children and their commitment to keeping children safe from abuse and neglect. We decided to interview the folks at MCC so they could describe their history, current initiatives and their unique logo, designed by artist Corita Kent.

Tell us a little bit about MCC and your mission.
Massachusetts Citizens for Children was founded in 1959 by Martha May Eliot, M.D., a Harvard educated pediatrician who went on to head the U.S. Children’s Bureau and UNICEF. Her idea, which was supported by then Governor Foster Furcolo, was to establish a permanent and independent organization of concerned citizens who would work to improve the lives of the state’s most vulnerable children. Our mission is grounded in the belief that all children have basic rights, including the right to be safe from abuse, neglect, and violence; to be economically secure; to receive quality medical and preventive care; to learn in quality educational settings; and to live in caring families and healthy communities. Unfortunately, the realities of some children in our state do not reflect this ideal. Our work throughout our 52-year history has been to ensure that all children are safe, healthy, and are given an optimal environment in which to grow, learn and be happy.

Who was Corita Kent and what was her relationship with Massachusetts Citizens for Children?
Corita Kent, also known as Sister Mary Corita, gained international fame for her vibrant serigraphs which became a hallmark of the anti-war movements in the 1960s and 70s and were popular until her death in Boston in 1986. Corita was well known for her rainbow swash painted in 1971 on one of the gas tanks near the Southeast Expressway in Dorchester. Her 1985 United States Postage stamp “Love” sold in the hundreds of millions. Corita’s art reflected her spirituality, her commitment to social justice, her hope for peace, and her delight in the world all around us.
In the mid-80’s Corita became acquainted with MCC’s work and created an exclusive serigraph to commemorate the organization’s 25th Anniversary. The phrase she believed captured the essence of our mission and work was: “It’s only fair that each child be cherished.” She encouraged us to use the saying as our official logo and determined that it should be in bright, bold red. And so, our logo simply, colorfully and brilliantly expresses our mission and hopes for children.

How do you see Corita’s words applying to what your organization is doing today?
A key part of our history has been to keep children safe from abuse and violence. We are also committed to the right of each child to live in caring families and healthy communities. These two ideas are complimentary; there are abusive behaviors that we can prevent – and we are working to do so – but beyond that, we need to be engaged in creating the home, community, world that we want. So, if we only focus on the things we should NOT be doing we’re missing half the message – what are the things we SHOULD be doing? The ansEwer is that we should be cherishing our children.
The saying “It’s only fair that each child be cherished” is a quiet message but it is a critical one. Oftentimes people, when confronting a serious and widespread problem, such as child sexual abuse, become paralyzed with inaction. Faced with sad facts and statistics it is so easy to get stuck in a “Well what’s the point?” loop. We don’t want people to feel powerless to create change. Shifting perspectives can have a huge impact. For example, instead of focusing our messages exclusively on “Prevent Shaken Baby Syndrome / Abusive Head Trauma,” we educate parents on how to care for their babies when they are fussy and crying and how to take care of themselves, too, when infant caring becomes stressful. Instead of limiting the message to “Stop Child Sexual Abuse,” we educate parents, youth, professionals and communities about how to create safe environments. In both cases, the effect of using complementary messages is that people gain the motivation to participate in actions that will actually reduce the numbers of abused children.

What are some of your major initiatives this year?
We will soon be launching a major public campaign to reduce infant deaths and injuries from shaking. It will target young men between 18 and 25 years of age – the group most overrepresented in cases of shaken babies. The Enough Abuse Campaign on child sexual abuse prevention which we lead will be expanded to new communities and areas of the state and we will be providing consultation support to youth-serving organizations who are seeking to strengthen their ability to protect children from sexual abuse in those setting.
We will be promoting our “Pinwheels for Prevention” Campaign in April and in the fall are planning a “Cherish Our Children” Stroll, for which we will again be partnering with Isis Parenting. Other events you can find by following us on Facebook and on our websites:www.masskids.org and www.enoughabuse.org!

The Cherish Mugs are adorable and we’re getting a wonderful response to them in our stores. They make a great gift! How will the proceeds from the mug be used?
Proceeds from the sale of the mugs will go directly to support our programs on Shaken Baby Syndrome/Abusive Head Trauma Prevention and Child Sexual Abuse Prevention. We are a serious “no frills” organization so a very high percentage of funds raised supports our direct programs.

How do you think the missions of MCC and Isis are intertwined?
MCC and Isis Parenting have a shared vision in that both organizations believe in the power of education and the value of strong community. Moreover, Isis wants to empower parents to be the best they can be and they are committed to supporting parents to make parenting easier, less stressful and more joyful. Massachusetts Citizens for Children is committed to giving every child a fair chance at a healthy, safe and happy childhood. One of the best ways to achieve that goal is for each of us to love, cherish, and protect our own children, then the children in our community, then across Massachusetts and beyond – until all children are safe from abuse and violence and all children are able to live in a caring family and healthy community.

Advocates trying to start child abuse task force

Advocates trying to start child abuse task force
by Laurie Balliett, contributing writer
February 16, 2012

HYANNIS — Community and child advocates are considering a new task force to help prevent sexual abuse of children on Cape Cod.

At a workshop at state offices on Perseverence Way on Thursday, the Barnstable County Council for Children, Youth and Families, and a representative from the Enough Abuse Campaign, a statewide grass-roots movements, urged local child-care professionals to create the task force.

The campaign, a program of the Massachusetts Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Partnership, would train facilitators from various organizations to teach volunteers to raise awareness of child sexual abuse. The partnership is a group of statewide child advocacy organizations.

Cape Cod was identified as a priority to the Enough Abuse Campaign about a year ago, but the campaign did not have the funds to do anything here until recently, said Lauren Titus, co-chairwoman of the county council.

About 20 professionals attended the workshop, including representatives from the state Department of Children and Family Services, Independence House, which works to prevent domestic abuse, and Children's Cove, which serves young victims of sexual abuse.

Beth Biro, forensic sexual abuse consultant at Children's Cove, stressed that investigative procedures and protocols should stay in place. She questioned how volunteers would be trained and whether they would know what to do if a child disclosed something, and if they would be able to train somebody else in proper procedures.

"We want to make sure there is a response component to the training," stressed Biro. She offered to attend every training to act as a consultant to the facilitators.

After the meeting, Jetta Bernier, campaign director of Enough Abuse Campaign, said, "I don't think we're looking for consultants; we're looking for partners. ... We want to make sure we work closely with Children's Cove," said Bernier.

The Enough Abuse Campaign was developed in Massachusetts nearly a decade ago in an effort to move toward results-based action, said Bernier.

"We decided there was no plan in Massachusetts to prevent child sexual abuse, and there was a big gap," Bernier said.

The council will hold a follow up meeting that will take place the first week of April.

Child Pornographers in Mass. not penalized enough, study shows

Child Pornographers in Mass. not penalized enough, study shows
Written by Amelia Pak-Harvey
February 15, 2012

Recent rulings of child pornography cases in Massachusetts have given offenders a lighter sentence than the U.S. Sentencing Commission has recommended, a pattern that shadows other rulings nationwide.

The median decrease from the commission’s recommended minimum sentencing was 46.7 percent from Oct. 2010 to Sep. 2011 in substantial assistance departure cases, according to U.S. Sentencing Commission data.

Recent child pornography cases in Massachusetts are evidence of such statistics.

In January, Judge Patti B. Saris sentenced a Dedham man to 21 months in prison for possessing child pornography – 42 months less than the punishment issued in the commission guidelines, according to The Boston Globe.

Two years prior, Judge Michael A. Ponsor sentenced a Springfield man to four years of probation and community confinement for possessing child pornography, according to a U.S. Attorney press release. The minimum suggested punishment is six to eight years in prison, according to The Globe.

But a judge in Pennsylvania recently sentenced a tenth-grade teacher who possessed and distributed child pornography to 19 years and seven months in prison, a punishment within the commission’s guidelines and just five months less than the maximum penalty.

The debate arises amidst recent child pornography cases in the Boston area – former elementary teacher David Ettlinger, 34, from Brighton, faces charges of possession of child pornography and now for assault.

Last Thursday, a 54-year-old management company employee was arraigned and charged with possessing child pornography after his employers found material on his work computer.

Although the commission establishes guidelines of punishment for federal crimes, Supreme Court rulings have declared that judges do not have to follow the commission’s suggestions when sentencing offenders.

The commission holds a public hearing on child pornography crimes today in D.C. The hearing will include discussions on technology, sex offender treatment and perspectives from the law, victims and courts.

Jetta Bernier, the executive director of Massachusetts Citizens for Children, said people are trying to research if people who view child pornography go on to molest children, or if pornography deters people from actually going out and risking being caught with a child.

However, she said that just by viewing the material, people are creating a market for that material and kids somewhere are being sexually abused.

One of the fundamental problems of child porn is that children are being sexually exploited in order to produce the material, she said.

“We need to work to prevent child sexual abuse from happening in the first place,” Bernier said.

Some local laws, she said, have expelled offenders from communities, which means such offenders have no place to live.

“We find them clustering in trailer parks, for example, because it’s cheap to live there and because trailer parks tend to be out of the way,” Bernier said. “When you have that happen you have a concentration of those who are sexual offenders and that can be really high risk area for any child to live or visit in.”

Bernier said people need to listen to the judges and understand why they are not following the guidelines.

“I think at this point we have to really listen to what these judges are saying,” Bernier said, “and to allow the legal system essentially to make an informed decision about what the right penalty should be.”

"Enough Abuse" Campaign Focuses on Adults Likely to Offend

"Enough Abuse" Campaign Focuses on Adults Likely to Offend
February 6, 2012
Contributor: Karen Brown
Listen here: http://nepr.net/news/enough-abuse-campaign-focuses-adults-likely-offend

Child advocates in Springfield are launching a coalition to identify and stop child sexual abuse – starting off by trainings at community agencies.

For many years, those trying to end child sexual abuse focused primarily on the children themselves – teaching them to recognize good versus bad touching, for instance, or to stay away from strangers. But a statewide campaign called “Enough Abuse” wants to shift the focus to identifying the adults most likely to commit abuse. Campaign trainer Jetta Bernier was in Springfield recently – at the invitation of the family advocacy center at Baystate medical center.

“People are thinking, if someone is abusive, i could figure out who they are. They would look funny, they'd speak funny, they would be weird, we'd all get a funny feeling. The fact that has been proven again and again is that those who abuse children are often very socially adept, they're very nice, they build this sense around them they are trustworthy. Everyone loves them. They do that purposefully bcecause they want cover. “

She was teaching these tips to a roomful of representatives from local youth-oriented agencies – from head start to the Springfield Housing Authority -- who spent several days poring over abuse case studies.

“The  movie of the week version of rape is not what we're talking about here,” says Baystate pediatrician Stephen Boos, co-director of the family advocacy center.

“This is something that evolved over time. There's opportunities that need to be created and sought, victims need to be tested whether the abuser is going to get away with it. And then things progress slowly. So if you identify signs early, you can possible prevent the first abuse event.”

Boos says he evaluates two to three hundred suspected cases of child sexual abuse every year – about half of which are verified. He says high-profile abuse cases have brought attention to the problem of child sex abuse  – including claims against jerry Sandusky at Penn state and the local trial of an Easthampton arts administrator accused of statutory rape.

“People  start talking about it. But the other thing that happens is that pp look at the legal process as some arbiter of truth, and the fact is, most sexual abusers are not prosecuted, and many who are prosecuted are not convicted.”

Boos says he’s assembled a group of community members – from the district attorney’s office to the school system – to launch the “Enough Abuse Springfield” campaign. He’s hoping they’ll learn not only to identify predators, but also to recognize the signs that abuse has already occurred.

“If you are a professional -- say a pediatrician or teacher or school counselor -- and you're dealing with a kid who's acting out….. You might be the person who surprising then finds out the child is abused. and prevents the next abuse.”

Those who attended the recent training have promised in turn to train others back at their agencies in how to identify – and head off – sexual abuse. 

Program Trains Adults to Stop Sexual Abuse of Children
February 6, 2012
Paul Tuthill
Springfield, MA (WAMC)


Listen here: http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wamc/news.newsmain/article/0/0/1901918/WAMC.New.England.News/Program.Trains.Adults..To.Stop.Sexual.Abuse..Of.Children

Sexual abuse of children is disturbingly prevelant according to experts. Dr. Stephen Boos, medical director of the Family Advocacy Center at Baystate Childrens Hospital in Springfield, says surveys have found 1 in 4 women and 1 in six men were sexually abused as children, but 80 percent never reported it. 

"We have been talking about sexual abuse prevention for a long time in this country but the focus has been on training children to protect themselves: 'just say no,' or 'tell somebody.' That's a heavy burden to lay on a child, and when they fail, that just compounds the guilt and keeps them quiet. It's time for the adults to stand up and say 'We're the adults, it is our responsibility to make our society safe for these children."

Getting more adults trained to recognize the consequences of child sex abuse from a public health perspective, how to identifty abusers, and keep children out of potentially risky situations is the goal of the "Enough Abuse" campaign. The initiative involves training community leaders, particularly people who work for, or volunteer with, youth service organizations. These trainers are then expected to work at the grassroots with parents and other adults who have regular contact with children. 

Dr. Boos says child sexual abuse can be prevented, but it takes diligence:

"If you are running a youth serving agency you need to set up your agency to look for this problem.  You need to screen your employees, you need to set up your physical plan so that the environment is safe, you need to kind of have a buddy system so that everyone is looking at everyone, and you need to train your people so that they know that if you're the assistant coach your watching the coach, if you're the coach you're watching the assistant coach. Everyone is watching out for the children, the children come number one and protecting the program and the employees is not the first agenda, I think that's the lesson of Penn State."

Massachusetts Citizens for Children, the nation's oldest state-wide child advocacy organization, is leading the state-wide initiative to train more adults to prevent, recognize, and stop child sexual abuse. The effort is supported by a 1.2 million dollar grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and is backed by dozens of community organizations.  According to Eva Montibello communications director for the Enough Abuse Campaign:

"These are, not only people, but they're also community organizations that are taking a stand and fully committed to saying, 'you know what, enough child sexual abuse in our community.' You know, we want to do something to actively and proactively go out into the community and train as many people as we can in all different areas to prevent child sexual abuse."

Greater Springfield is the fourth area of the state to be introduced to the campaign.  The pre-school program, Square One, is one of the campaign's local supporters.  The organization's vice president of family services, Joni Beck Brewer, is hopeful for its success:

"We do take a lot of precautions about making sure that the kids are safe when they're in our care, and then concerns often will come up about whether the child is safe in their home and in their communities - so it really has to be a multi-pronged approach, you cant just look at parents or teachers, we really need the whole community to step up and really be aware of this - and that's what we're hoping to do here. 

Other organizations supporting the child sexual abuse prevention campaign include Head Start, the Ms. Foundation, and the Springfield Housing Authority.

Reporting from WAMC's pioneer valley news bureau on the campus of Western New England University, I'm Paul Tuthill.

After Filing Lawsuit, Alleged Sex Abuse Victim Speaks Out

Rosanne Sliney hopes to inspire sexual abuse victims to come forward.

By Ryan Grannan-Doll
Published in the Waltham Patch

February 2, 2012

After filing a lawsuit in Middlesex Superior Court on Jan. 30, a Burlington woman held a press conference on Feb. 1, speaking out against her uncle, a Waltham businessman she says sexually assaulted her between 1968 and 1977.

Rosanne Sliney, 48, says her uncle, Domenic Previte Jr., of Waltham, sexually assaulted and raped her hundreds of times, starting when she was five.

The lawsuit details the alleged abuse, which Sliney says continued until 1977, when she was 14. Sliney, who grew up in Waltham, also claimed in the lawsuit that Previte forced her to have sex with other men.

“Domenic, you took away my childhood, my adolescence. I have struggled my whole life,” Sliney said during Wednesday's press conference.

Sliney is asking for an undisclosed amount of financial compensation for her pain and suffering, as well as attorney’s fees.

The alleged abuse caused Sliney severe mental distress, she said, which resulted in multiple hospital stays starting when she was 24.

Previte, who could not be reached for comment following the press conference, owned a Cambridge car wash where some of the abuse is alleged to have occurred, according to Sliney’s attorney, Carmen Durso.

Other incidents also occurred at the former Maverick nightclub in North Reading in the 1970s, at Previte’s Waltham home (a different address then where he lives now) and the Showcase Cinemas in Woburn, according to the lawsuit. 

Sliney said Wednesday she was speaking out to help inspire other victims of sexual abuse to come forward, and to call on state lawmakers to eliminate a statute of limitations on alleged victims reporting abuse and filing criminal charges and civil lawsuits. Sliney also called for lawmakers to eliminate the statute of limitations for filing a civil lawsuit. 

“There should be no time limit, we should be able to obtain justice in our own time and out our own pace,” Sliney said, noting that alleged victims can be reluctant to file a lawsuit or charges at first because they are focused on recovery.

Durso said that in this case, the statute of limitations for criminal charges has expired, thus preventing Sliney from filing charges against Previte. However, the law allows for filing of this particular civil lawsuit because it states that a lawsuit can be filed up to three years from the point at which a victim understands they have been abused, according to Durso. In this case, Sliney's recent recollections of abuse, Durso said, allows the suit to be filed. Durso, however, acknowledged, the suit would be a "difficult."

SLINEY RECALLS ALLEGED ABUSE

Sliney, now 48, began recalling the abuse when she was in her early 20s, she said, and never told anyone about it while it was occurring. 

Sliney, a former teacher and coach, said she had planned to tell her mother about the abuse during a meeting with a therapist in 1988, but her mother unexpectedly died that day before Sliney could tell her.

Recently, Sliney started recalling other memories of abuse in which she was forced to have sex with other men, she said, at the former Maverick nightclub in at the intersection of Main and Park streets in North Reading. She was 13 or 14 years old at the time, she said.

“They were pretty horrific and horrible,” Sliney said of the recent memories.

A FAMILY’S REACTION

The alleged abuse took a severe toll on the family, and Sliney said she no longer speaks with her aunts. Sliney said she and her brother and sister decided she should inform her aunts of the abuse, which elicited an unexpected response.

“The first thing they said was, 'We knew,' Sliney said. “They just didn’t want to believe it."

However, her aunts pledged to support Sliney and suggested she confront Previte. Their sentiments soon changed.

“Over time, it became clear to me that this family’s main concern was to keep me quiet and not support me,” Sliney said.

Sliney had a stern message for anybody involved in covering up the alleged abuse.

“To all the adults involved, shame on you for covering this up. Today, I can say that I am strong enough to speak out. I have suffered enough and I’m not hiding anymore,” Sliney said.

CONFRONTING PREVITE

Sliney, despite the suffering she sustained, confronted Previte more than two decades ago during a meeting at one of his businesses, she said.

“We sat in silence, it felt like a lifetime. Finally, we sat down… and I just looked at him and I said, 'I need to talk you about what happened sexually.' That’s when he put his head down and said ‘I never thought this would come back to me,’” Sliney said. 

As a result of the meeting, Previte wrote a letter to Sliney in 1988 in which he confessed to sexually abusing her. In the letter, Previte said he was experiencing a rough time in his life when he abused her and that, 'temptation was mounting. My love for [you] degenerated into something I almost had no control over. I had confused my love for you with sex.'"

PREVITE’S PROMISE

In March 1991, Sliney signed a “Release and Settlement” agreement, in exchange for $26,500 and a promise that her medical expenses would be paid for the rest of her life, according to Durso. Sliney, however, claims her tenuous mental state left her unable to understand what she was signing, according to the lawsuit. During the press conference, Sliney said she has no memory of signing the agreement.

She also claims she felt pressured by her family to forgive Previte, another reason she signed the document, according to the lawsuit. She was also told the document was merely a formality, according to the lawsuit.

Previte, however, did pay her the $26,000, which Sliney said she used to pay off college loans. Previte, however, eventually stopped other payments, claiming making them brought back painful memories of the abuse he allegedly inflicted on Sliney, according to Durso. As a result, Sliney still has outstanding medical bills, according to the lawsuit.