Please write to your NY State Assembly Member and Senator now in support of the Child Victims Act. Sample letters including the bill numbers for each legislative chamber are found below.

Ask yourself how you can personalize the letter to make it more effective.

Are you a:

• parent or grandparent?
• survivor of child sexual abuse or a relative or friend of a survivor?
• concerned member of an institution in which children have been abused?
• mental health or medical professional?
• law enforcement officer?
• social worker?
• substance abuse counselor?
• teacher?

Should you send an Email?

Not all legislators check emails regularly, but do pay attention to personal, especially hand-written, letters. You might call your Senator's office to ask how Emails are handled.

Sample Letters: 1. Assembly Member 2. Senator:
To find your Assembly Member's name and address, click here and enter your zip code.

To find your Senator's name and address, click here and enter your zip code.

Legislative districts may split zip codes; if the search provides multiple legislators for your zip, call their offices, and give your street address to confirm who represents you.

1. To Assembly Member

(Date)

Hon. (name), Assemblyman/woman, State of New York

Dear Assemblyman/woman(name):

As a constituent, I strongly urge you to support, without amendment, the Child Victims Act of New York, recently re-introduced in the Assembly as Bill #A2596 by Assemblywoman Margaret Markey.

There is a virulent but silent epidemic of child sexual abuse in our society. FBI studies show that one in five children will be sexually abused by the age of 18! Measures such as safety zones, offender registries, safe environments, and background checks help with known abusers, but  we need to do much more to discover the unknown predators, those who are often shielded by New York's archaic and inadequate Statute of Limitations on Child Sexual Abuse. Since predators are known to abuse multiple victims—as many as 100—we can not continue to let New York's children be at risk!

Studies reveal that children who are victims of this heinous crime require many years into  adulthood to gain the strength and courage to name their abuser. And only 10% of these crimes are ever reported!  I hope you agree we must change this appalling situation.

The Child Victims Act will apply to both public and private sectors, and accomplish the following:

1.  Extend the deadline for a victim to file a claim in court—from age 23 to age 28.
2.  Suspend the Limitations for just one year, so those who have been denied  justice in the past when little was known of this silent epidemic, and victims could be more readily intimated into silence, can now have their day in court. This provision extends to 35 years after age 18.

When California enacted such a suspension, more than 300 previously undetected predators were discovered. We must do the same for the children of New York!

Assemblyman/woman (name), please don't let NY state law be used against our children! I will call you next week for your position on this bill, and to answer any questions.

Thank you for your attention to this most serious matter. Thanks, too, for all that you do for the people of New York.

Sincerely yours,
Include your address so the legislators will know you are a constituent.

2. To Senator

(Date)

Hon. (name), Senator, State of New York

Dear Senator (name):

As a constituent, I strongly urge you to support, without amendment, the Child Victims Act of New York, recently introduced in the Senate as Bill #S5893 by Senator Ruth Hassell-Thompson.

There is a virulent but silent epidemic of child sexual abuse in our society. FBI studies show that one in five children will be sexually abused by the age of 18! Measures such as safety zones, offender registries, safe environments, and background checks help with known abusers, but  we need to do much more to discover the unknown predators, those who are often shielded by New York's archaic and inadequate Statute of Limitations on Child Sexual Abuse. Since predators are known to abuse multiple victims—as many as 100—we can not continue to let New York's children be at risk!

Studies reveal that children who are victims of this heinous crime require many years into  adulthood to gain the strength and courage to name their abuser. And only 10% of these crimes are ever reported!  I hope you agree we must change this appalling situation.

The Child Victims Act will apply to both public and private sectors, and accomplish the following:

1.  Extend the deadline for a victim to file a claim in court—from age 23 to age 28.
2.  Suspend the Limitations for just one year, so those who have been denied  justice in the past when little was known of this silent epidemic, and victims could be more readily intimated into silence, can now have their day in court. This provision extends to 35 years after age 18.

When California enacted such a suspension, more than 300 previously undetected predators were discovered. We must do the same for the children of New York!

Senator (name), please don't let NY state law be used against our children! I will call your office next week for your position on this bill, and to answer any questions.

Thank you for your attention to this most serious matter. Thanks, too, for all that you do for the people of New York.

Sincerely yours,
Include your address so the legislators will know you are a constituent.

Please tell the Coalition of your action and its results. Thank you.  NYProtectChildren@Gmail.com