New federal legislation created to help child sexual abuse survivors explained, resource guide created by UGA law school clinic

Abstract

Earlier this month, President Joe Biden signed the Eliminating Limits to Justice for Child Sexual Abuse Victims Act of 2022, which eliminates the statute of limitations for a variety of federal civil claims, such as sexual abuse of a minor and sexual exploitation of children.

While this new law is exciting and will help many survivors going forward to access the civil justice system, the law has its limits, according to Emma M. Hetherington, the director of the Wilbanks Child Endangerment and Sexual Exploitation Clinic, which is operated out of the University of Georgia School of Law.

“For example, the law does not change the statute of limitations for state civil claims for child sexual abuse, and it only applies if federal jurisdictional requirements are met, such as the abuse occurring on federal land or property. Also, the law is not retroactive, meaning that claims that were already barred as of September 15, 2022, are not revived by the new law,” Hetherington said.

“Sadly, most civil claims for child sexual abuse fall under state law and if survivors have claims in states with more restrictive statutes of limitations, such as Georgia, they may not benefit from the new law,” she said.

To help child sexual abuse survivors and their advocates, the Wilbanks CEASE Clinic – which is the first of its kind in the nation – has created a resource guide explaining common questions about the new law that can be found at https://cease.law.uga.edu/what-eliminating-limits-justice-child-sexual-abuse-victims-act-2022-means-survivors-georgia.

The Wilbanks Child Endangerment and Sexual Exploitation (CEASE) Clinic is the first of its kind in the nation, representing survivors of child sexual abuse and exploitation in civil litigation and juvenile court dependency matters. The clinic provides direct representation to survivors and serves as a teaching center as part of the University of Georgia School of Law.

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