FACSA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 27, 2012

Contact: John Salveson at 215-870-0680 salveson@abolishsexabuse.org

Tammy Lerner at 610-509-9568 lerner@abolishsexabuse.org

Foundation to Abolish Child Sex Abuse (FACSA) Statement Regarding Pennsylvania Task Force on Child Protection Report

BRYN MAWR, PA – The Foundation to Abolish Child Sex Abuse (FACSA) released the following statement regarding the report issued today by the Pennsylvania Task Force on Child Protection:

"While we appreciate the work the task force has done, and support many of their recommendations, we are profoundly disappointed in the fact that the task force failed to address any of the most powerful tools available to protect children from sexual abuse. We believe that the elimination of statute of limitations both criminally and civilly, as well as the creation of a two year window which suspends civil statute of limitations for prior victims of sex abuse, would provide meaningful, effective, decisive protection to children. These changes were recommended in two grand jury reports in Pennsylvania and have been proposed in various bills for the past 7 years. Other states have used these reforms successfully to identify predators and make children safer.

"By failing to address these obvious remedies, the task force has instead settled for a 'business as usual' approach with the potential for only minimal positive impact. The fact that the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference issued a statement in support of the work of the task force demonstrates the weakness of its recommendations. The Catholic Conference has spent millions of dollars fighting actual reform for years, choosing to protect its priests and bishops rather than the children they abused.

"FACSA will continue to fight for SOL reform in Pennsylvania and beyond until children are protected and predators are exposed. Our Commonwealth's children are being engulfed in a firestorm of sex abuse, and our legislative leaders are reaching for squirt guns. Instead, we need them to reach for as many fire hoses as possible, as soon as possible, if we want to have an impact on the inferno of child sex abuse in Pennsylvania."

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