Child sexual abuse is not rare. It is an epidemic. One in four girls and one in thirteen boys will be victimized before they reach adulthood. For survivors, the consequences are life-long: PTSD, addiction, depression, anxiety, chronic illness, fractured families, and suicide. For society, the costs are staggering, billions of taxpayer dollars annually in medical care, educational interventions, law enforcement, foster care, social services, and lost productivity.
And yet, instead of standing with survivors, our laws have constructed barriers that protect the very institutions that failed children. Four barriers—statutes of limitations, charitable immunity, non-disclosure agreements, and the laws of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code—have become shields wielded by powerful institutions to silence survivors, conceal dangerous predators, and protect reputations and assets. These laws were not designed with child sexual abuse in mind. But in practice, they function as a fortress of secrecy, cover up and impunity.
Shield One: Statutes of Limitations—Justice That Ends Too Soon
Statutes of limitations (SOLs) were created centuries ago to promote fairness, assuming that evidence grows stale, witnesses disappear, and memories fade with time. But child sexual abuse is not like a breach of contract or a car accident case; these are unique and devastating harms against children. Survivors often cannot speak for decades, silenced by trauma, shame, or fear. Many carry their painful shame to their grave.
Under strict SOLs, survivors are told you are too late. The courthouse doors close not because the abuse did not happen, but because the arbitrary time limit has passed. Institutions know this, and they lobby fiercely to keep SOLs short, because every expired clock means fewer lawsuits, and greater coverups.
Many states are beginning to break through this shield of silence with revival laws (often called “window” reforms) that restore survivors’ ability to sue even after the original statute of limitations has expired. The Children’s Justice Campaign at Enough Abuse has documented that many states now have no statutes of limitations for child sexual abuse crimes (or abolished them for certain offenses), and many states have eliminated the SOLs or adopted revival legislation for civil claims. These legislative reversals recognize what survivors have long known: abuse does not respect the clock, and healing may take decades, and for some —a lifetime. The Child Victims Act in New York allowed Virginia Giuffre to file a civil lawsuit against Prince Andrew under its revival law. Giuffre alleged that the abuse was part of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s trafficking network. Prince Andrew, like many other powerful men, have attempted to distance themselves from the Epstein criminal scandal. Yet the truth keeps rearing its ugly head as recent news of Prince Andrew’s “we are in this together” email has revealed.
The U.S. Congress is looking to incentivize states to make changes to their statutes of limitations with HR 5560, led by the leadership of Representatives Suhas Subramanyam (VA), Maria Salazar (FL) and Brian Fitzpatrick (PA).
Shield Two: Charitable Immunity—Mercy for Institutions, Not Children
Charitable immunity was developed in the 19th century to protect fragile nonprofits like hospitals and orphanages. But today, institutions invoking this shield are often wealthy, with multimillion-dollar assets and insurers. Yet in several states, charitable immunity still bars survivors from recovering damages, no matter how egregious the negligence. Many statutes put an outrageous cap on damages, essentially making it impossible to sue. Massachusetts is notably the very worst, with a $20,000 cap on damages. And recently the Archdiocese of Baltimore invoked charitable immunity during bankruptcy proceedings, asking the court to dismiss claims against it. Survivors condemned the move as outrageous—an attempt to wield both bankruptcy protection and immunity to avoid liability.
When children are harmed, immunity reverses the moral equation—protecting the powerful instead of the vulnerable. Although charitable immunity may have once been a shield of protection for small benevolent organizations, it has now turned into a sword against transparency and justice.
Shield Three: NDAs—Contracts of Silence and Concealment
For those who manage to file suit, another trap often awaits: the non-disclosure agreement (NDA). NDAs were designed to protect trade secrets, formulas and confidential employment material. They are now used as gag orders in abuse cases. Survivors are forced to sign them as conditions of settlement, forbidding them from speaking about their abuse, the predator, or the institution. The consequences are devastating. NDAs hide patterns of misconduct, shield predators, and ensure that communities remain unaware of dangers. They reinforce the same message children first heard from their abusers: “don’t tell, it’s our little secret.”
In Texas and Missouri the legislatures passed “Trey’s Law” making NDAs in child sexual abuse cases void and unenforceable. Trey Carlock was abused as a child at Kanakuk Kamps, a Christian summer camp, by serial predator Pete Newman. Unfortunately, his settlement came with a restrictive NDA that silenced him. That silence came with a heavy price tag of deep emotional pain. Trey died by suicide because the silence was too much to bear. His amazing sister, Elizabeth Carlock Philips, has been leading advocacy efforts to end NDAs for child sexual abuse claims.
Shield Four: The Bankruptcy Code—Limiting Liability
Congress created Chapter 11of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the mid-1970s; it was intended to help good-faith businesses get back on their feet through the process of reorganization. But institutions facing mass abuse claims—dioceses, the Boy Scouts, universities—have turned Chapter 11 into a dangerous shield. By declaring bankruptcy, they freeze lawsuits, end vital discovery, force survivors into a trust, and reduce payouts. Discovery is curtailed, perpetrators’ names are often sealed, and survivors’ trauma is reduced to dollar values on a spreadsheet.
Bankruptcy does not just consolidate mass tort claims—it has become an industry. Attorneys on all sides —bankruptcy, insurance, defense and mass tort firms —milk the cow of bankruptcy, extracting millions in fees while survivors wait years for relief and often end up with pennies on the dollar. In the Boy Scouts of America case, for example, legal fees exceeded $100 million, while survivors, who are deemed creditors under this system, were left to divide what remained.
Another dangerous weapon in the arsenal of institutional defense is the misuse of protective orders in the bankruptcy courts. Courts often grant them to shield sensitive documents during litigation, but in sexual abuse cases they hide evidence of systemic wrongdoing. Protective orders have been used to keep internal files, deposition testimony, and investigative records sealed; many contain documents that could reveal prosecutable felonies against children. Instead of being referred to law enforcement, this evidence is buried under the guise of confidentiality. The result is alarming: sexual predators remain free, institutions remain insulated, and survivors are denied both justice and safety.
The Sound of Silence at the Highest Levels
Even beyond these shields, secrecy thrives in our government. The Jeffrey Epstein scandal revealed a network of abuse reaching the highest levels of power and wealth. Yet Congress has failed to release the full Epstein files, keeping names sealed, predators protected, and survivors in the dark. Worse, recently, reports surfaced of White House chatter about a potential pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s convicted accomplice. The suggestion of leniency and forgiveness for a child sex trafficker is grotesque—a symbol of how power protects itself, even at the expense of children. It is time to eliminate the Shields.
The work ahead is urgent:
End statutes of limitations and pass revival legislation in child sexual abuse cases.
End charitable immunity.
Ban NDAs that silence survivors.
Reform the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.
Demand Congress release the Epstein files.
Reject special treatment and mercy for traffickers like Ghislaine Maxwell.
Justice demands more than hollow words. Children deserve more than apologies and cover-ups.
