Helping Parents Prevent Child Sexual Abuse

Helping Parents Prevent Child Sexual Abuse

Jetta Bernier's Guest Post to "Safe To Compete", a program of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
http://tmblr.co/Zf7J_qu3U8w5

Efforts to prevent child sexual abuse over the past decade are showing results and confirmed cases are down. Yet still too many children - an estimated 1 in 10 - are at risk of being sexually abused or exploited. As a parent, you can be your child’s best protection. Here’s how.

What’s a Parent to Do?

1. Begin talking to your child about body boundaries and privacy by age 3. Remember, it’s easy, if you begin early and reinforce messages over time.
2. Only allow those you trust to provide genital, perianal and bathing care for your child.
3. Encourage children’s independence in personal self-care.
4. Discourage co-bathing with siblings and adults.
5. Introduce concepts of “OK” and “Not OK” touch. Avoid using the terms “good or bad touch.”  Children get confused by the notions that a good person could touch then in a bad way; that touching in private parts can feel good yet be bad; and that being touched in a bad way might mean they are bad.  
6. Increase supervision. By reducing “one child/one adult” situations, you can reduce your child’s risk of abuse by an estimated 8o%.
7. Teach children and teens to respect adults’ and siblings’ privacy by modeling this behavior yourself.
8. Teach teens to practice equality and respect in their relationships and to demand the same.
9. Develop a safety plan with your teen in case he/she needs to get out of risky situations.
10. Encourage your teen to stay sober to reduce the risks of sexual abuse.

---


Jetta Bernier is Executive Director of Massachusetts Citizens for Children. She directs the Enough Abuse Campaign, a community mobilization and citizen education effort established in 2002 under a 5-year grant from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and supported in part by the Ms. Foundation for Women. The Campaign’s comprehensive model has now been adopted in Maryland, New Jersey, New York and regions of California. For more information about how to prevent child sexual abuse, visit www.enoughabuse.or

Your Action on SOL Needed Today!

News from the Coalition to Reform Sex Abuse Laws:

Your Action on SOL Needed Today!

In a strategic effort to move civil SOL reform forward, Senator Brownsberger yesterday personally reached out to his Senate colleagues to urge them to add their names to a letter that he and Rep. Lawn have drafted. The letter urges Senate President Murray and House Speaker DeLeo to shepherd SOL bills  S. 63 and H.1455 out of Committee and on to the Senate and House floors for a vote.   Within hours, 30 of 40 Senators had already signed the letter.  Rep. Lawn is reaching out to his House colleagues and expects strong support as well.

Your voice needs to be heard today.  Call your legislators and urge them to add their names to the letter.  If they have already done so, thank them and encourage them to ask their colleagues to do the same.  (Because Sen. Brownsberger and Rep. Lawn are reaching out personally to their colleagues, legislative aides may not yet be aware of this effort.  You should know this, in case aides tell you they have not seen such a letter.)  The letter will be sent to Speaker DeLeo and Senate President Murray on July 31 just before the August recess. It may be publicly released to the media at that time. Make sure your legislators’ names are on it.

Tell them that survivors and advocates intend to take the issue of SOL reform to the mat.  We expect them to take it to the Floor and vote to abolish or retroactively extend the civil SOL.   Survivors deserve justice and our children deserve action now.  Thanks and check CORSAL's website or Facebook page for regular updates!

A Child Advocate's Blog: Sex-Wise Parents can raise sexually safer and heal...

Sex-Wise Parents can raise sexually safer and healthier kids!

Reposted from the Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM,) Blog, original post found here: Sex-Wise Parents can raise sexually safer and healthier kids! | National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC)

This week the Talk Early, Talk Often series continues on the SAAM Blog with a guest post from author and expert Dr. Janet Rosenzweig. Join us on Tueday, April 2 for a twitter chat hosted by @JanetRosenzweig on child sexual abuse prevention. Use the hashtag #TweetAboutIt to participate. 

Parents are the strongest influence on their children's decisions about sex and sexuality, yet most parents underestimate their own power. A major national survey reported in 2010 that 46 percent of teens continue to say that parents most influence their decisions about sex, while just 20 percent say friends most influence their decisions. At the same time, parents overestimate the influence media and friends have on their children's decisions about sex and underestimate their own.

The same study tells us that 88 percent of parents agree with the statement that "parents believe they should talk to their kids about sex but often don’t know what to say, how to say it, or when to start." (Albert 2010)

It's easy to see why: They were raised in the era I've dubbed "The Neutered Nineties". That's when we traded rational discussion about sexuality for Megan's Laws and sex offender registries, in the name of 'prevention.' It's when cash-strapped school districts had to teach abstinence-only topics or lose federal funding. And when answering a question about masturbation at an AIDS conference got the U.S. surgeon general fired. Too many adults stopped talking to kids about sex. Qualified professionals went quiet and left a vacuum too easily filled by people who sexually offend.

Accurate and age-appropriate information about sex disappeared from most professional work in child sexual abuse, and it's time to put it back.

Where to start? With two critical messages for our children:

They need to know accurate names for all their body parts; and

They need to understand that physical sexual arousal is an autonomic response -- like getting goosebumps when tickled.

One now-grown female victim of child sexual abuse I interviewed for The Sex-Wise Parent told me that good touch-bad touch programs can actually be dangerous to a victim because sometimes the touch actually feels good! Further, men who were victims of sexual abuse report that the confusion resulting from a climax is one of the most difficult issues to resolve.

People who sexually offend exploit children's guilt and their lack of knowledge related to sexuality often try to convince them  that they must have actually enjoyed the abuse because of a physical response over which they have no control. Understanding sexual response is important for boys and girls -- people who prey on teen-aged girls exploit the fact that very few girls understand that their physical response to a sexual thought, feeling or touch has absolutely nothing to do with love.

Language and knowledge that parents equip children with are a defense against abuse. Raising a child who knows the parts of his or her body, and knows that it's safe to tell parents or a trusted adult if they have been touched, can prevent their victimization and probably other children's, too. And, if abuse occurs, harm may be mitigated if the child understands their body's response.

For parents who need support as they heed the advice to 'talk early-talk often,' I suggest practicing with friends and getting used to using sexual terms without discomfort. Take turns role-playing, asking each other the kinds of questions you fear getting from your children. Watch this video for ideas and encouragement. This may not be easy at first, but the reward can be lifelong -- a sexually safe and healthy child!

Find more ideas at my website and feel free to E-mail me your questions!

Dr. Janet Rosenzweig worked for the first sexual abuse helpline in the U.S., in Knox County, Tennessee; that project developed into a 5-county treatment program and a national multi-disciplinary training center. She has also managed child sexual abuse programs in Texas and New Jersey, and is the author of The Sex-Wise Parent: The Parent's Guide Protecting Your Child, Strengthening Your Family, and Talking to Kids about Sex, Abuse, and Bullying, (Skyhorse Publishing, 2012). She is currently the national consultant for child sexual abuse prevention programs for Prevent Child Abuse - America, a lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania and a speaker offering keynotes and training nationally.

"We Can Make it Right" A Message from PCAA

We Can Make It Right.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

[re-blogged from here]

CHICAGO, IL, January 14, 2013 – Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett recently launched a lawsuit against the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) seeking to have all of the NCAA penalties against Penn State’s football program thrown out. These sanctions brought about by the Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse case include a $60 million fine which is to be used for funding child sexual abuse prevention and treatment programming.

The lawsuit represents an about face in terms of Governor Corbett’s public position on the sanctions. This past July he was quoted as saying, “We must repair the damage to this university. Part of that corrective process is to accept the serious penalties imposed by the NCAA on Penn State University and its football program.”

The temptation is to ask why Governor Corbett has chosen to do this, or even seek to answer that question ourselves. But asking why or trying to discern the impetus for this decision is not where we need to focus our attention. What’s important is recognizing that our real focus is on fixing an ugly situation that is all too common.

We live in a culture that up until now has allowed for silence and shame, and at times has all too willingly puts profits and brands ahead of people. It doesn’t have to be this way though, we can do what’s right, not sometimes, all the time, and when we do, what’s wrong will be illuminated for all to see.

Each one of us has the ability to change this culture; and both individually and collectively, we can do something every day to prevent not just child sexual abuse, but all forms of child abuse and neglect.

We can all knock on our neighbor’s doors and offer to be of assistance during times of crisis. We can all volunteer at child sexual abuse prevention organizations. We can all ask our local media to highlight what works in terms of enhancing the lives of the children and families in our communities. And we can all ask business leaders and policymakers what their vision is for the healthy development of all children and their families.

We can do this, all of us, together. We can shine a light on what’s wrong and we can make it right.

“I call on the citizens of this great country to say enough,” said James M. Hmurovich, President & CEO, Prevent Child Abuse America. “Enough silence. Enough shame. I also call on everyone to join us in this dialogue and provide a voice in your communities that says we are done looking the other way. We all play a role in prevention, now let’s come together and do something about it.”

###

ABOUT PREVENT CHILD ABUSE AMERICA
Prevent Child Abuse America, founded in 1972 in Chicago, works to ensure the healthy development of children nationwide. The organization promotes that vision through a network of chapters in 50 states and 530 Healthy Families America home visitation sites in 39 states, the Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and Canada. A major organizational focus is to advocate for the existence of a national policy framework and strategy for children and families while promoting evidence-based practices that prevent abuse and neglect from ever occurring. To learn more about what we’re doing to prevent child abuse and neglect and how you can help, please visit us here and here.

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.