Delayed Disclosure: The Average Age of Disclosure of Childhood Sexual Abuse is 52 Y.O. Missouri State Rep Brian Seitz Is Doing Something About It.

“God who created us has granted us the faculty of speech that we might disclose the counsels of our hearts to one another and that, since we possess our human nature in common, each of us might share his thoughts with his neighbor, bringing them forth from the secret recesses of the heart as from a treasury.” Saint Basil


Why did it take so long for the victim to report their abuse?

I am going to be hosting a round table discussion involving women and men who were abused by pastors when they were children and young teens. In the revelations of their abuse in the last year, a question that often arises is, “Why did it take the victim so long to report or disclose their abuse?” What bothers me most is the unstated, underlying accusation that they must be lying or have developed false memories over the years. Law throughout the country includes statutes of limitations that seem to track with the supposition that it is only “fair” that the alleged abuser should receive timely accusations of their crime.

Time after time, I have had to explain that many victims of childhood abuse cannot report due to trauma, which includes victims blaming themselves for the abuse. It has been my experience in the soon-to-be sixteen years of interacting with victims that many need decades to come forward. Then, they reach a point in which the adult victim can talk to their childhood selves and say, “It wasn’t your fault. I get it now.”

As for the accusation of false memories, nothing could be further from the truth. I have been stunned by the complete memories of those who were abused regarding the moment of abuse. I describe it like this. It’s like the brain takes a picture of the abuse. Victims can often describe the smallest of details surrounding that moment. One man explained his abuse, which first happened at the apartment of the youth pastor. He insisted that I describe the room in which the abuse occurred in minute detail. When I wrote the post, I said the blue wall in the room was across from the bed, and he insisted I change it immediately since the blue wall was on the west side of the room. That small detail was important to him.

Missouri State Rep. Brian Seitz proposes changes in the law that recognize the real issues surrounding “delayed disclosure.”

Today, I found an article at Baptist News Global that made me realize that victims are finally getting through. I commend Rep Seitz for profoundly understanding the issues surrounding delayed disclosure. Mallory Challis wrote Three new bills related to child sex crimes filed in Missouri. Here is the bill that relates to delayed disclosure.

HB-883, filed Jan. 14, would modify provisions on civil actions for child sexual abuse by eliminating the statute of limitations, which currently dictates that civil action must be brought against a defendant within 10 years of the survivor’s 21st birthday, or just three years after the date of reasonable discovery of the crime.

This extension of the statute of limitations acknowledges the lengthy time it takes for most victims to come forward about their experiences, for various social, psychological, legal and spiritual reasons. Psychologists call this “delayed disclosure” and have found most survivors do not disclose their experiences until age 52, and disclosure delay is often longer for male survivors than for female survivors.

This bill would allow abuse survivors the developmentally appropriate time to process and come to terms with their trauma before choosing when they are ready to file a civil action against their perpetrator or perpetrating institution, advocates say

What is delayed disclosure?

Here is an informative article from Psychology Today: Understanding Delayed Disclosure of Child Sexual Abuse.

Research has identified multiple internal and external barriers that prevent disclosure of CSA in a timely fashion.

The most identified internal barriers are:

  • Shame.
  • Guilt.
  • Self-blame caused by the abuse.
  • Fear for self and others if the abuse is disclosed.
  • The child’s developmental level may prevent them from fully comprehending that the abusive behavior was wrong or inappropriate and thus delay or prevent disclosure.

Identified external barriers to disclosure include

However, I was concerned that this article did not point out the average age of disclosure of childhood sexual abuse (CSA). For that, I went to the Montana Legislature, which published some findings on the age of disclosure. This article said that the average age of disclosure is 52 years old!!

My call with State Representative Seitz.

Mr Seitz returned my phone inquiry within 5 minutes. He explained he became educated due to the Kanakuk CSA perpetrated by Peter Newman, which may have involved hundreds of boys. Kanakuk is in Branson, which is his district. So is Jim Bakker’s Morningside Ministries. I discussed the many victims, two of which occurred in Missouri, who have come forward with allegations of CSA by Joe Campbell, who is Jim Bakker’s pastor.

He discussed his concern for the inadequate statutes of limitations for CSA since, as he stated, the average age of reporting for CSA is 55 y.o. for males and 52 y.o. for women. He said it is evident that the law should reflect this reality. He said that when HB-883 was presented, it received 152 votes for and zero votes against. However, it languished in committee. This year, it shall rise again, and he is optimistic even though there are powerful lobbying groups who do not want this bill to pass. He did not mention who those were, but I wonder if they might be from the insurance lobby.

Recently, insurance companies have expressed concern at the many sex abuse lawsuits being seen by the SoutherBaptist Convention. From the AL.com Southern Baptists: ‘Insurance hurdles’ prevent release of database of church sex abusers.

Jeff Iorg, the new president of the Executive Committee, told its members in a meeting Monday that the committee is facing a “financial crisis” because it indemnified Guidepost Solutions from any legal repercussions from the study. The convention is paying for the legal defense against two defamation lawsuits filed by two men named in the report.

“We have spent more than $2 million so far on that indemnification, and there is no end in sight,” Iorg said.

Here are the other two bills also proposed by Seitz. The following are quotes from the above-linked BNG post. Readers will find the NDA bill to be a bill whose time has come.

HB-709, filed Jan. 2, proposes: “A nondisclosure agreement by any party to any child sexual abuse claim shall not be judicially enforceable in a dispute involving any CSA claims.”

If voted into law, the bill would prevent the misuse of nondisclosure agreements against abuse survivors who later wish to seek civil claims regarding the crimes committed against them. NDAs have posed issues for Missouri abuse survivors before. Notably, this has been an ongoing issue for survivors who experienced abuse at Kanakuk (based in Branson) and signed NDAs as part of their settlements with camp leadership.

HJR-58, also filed Jan. 14, proposes a constitutional amendment to be considered by Missouri voters. The amendment would allow ex post facto laws to be enacted “if such law involved child sexual abuse claims.”

An ex post facto law is a “criminal statute that punishes actions retroactively, thereby criminalizing conduct that was legal when originally performed.” Currently, Missouri’s Constitution prohibits the use of these laws, preventing defendants from being punished unexpectedly and thus offering them some legal protection. However, Seitz’s proposal would make an exception for perpetrators of child sexual abuse and allow survivors to file claims against their perpetrators or perpetrating institutions based on updated legal precedents.

I told him about the current victims of Joe Campbell, who works for Jim Bakker. He was most interested in the situation. I offered to connect him with two of the victims who were in Missouri when they were molested. I told him I would be quoting his bills today and will do so again in a discussion of victims that will take place in February.

Finally,

I am heartened that there are legislators like Bill Seitz who get it. I wish more people in the evangelical church would begin to understand the long-term consequences of CSA and circle the victims with love, understanding, and support instead of treating them with suspicion. Meanwhile, I am grateful for lawmakers like Ben Seitz. May his bills find success, and I wish him Godspeed.


Comments

Delayed Disclosure: The Average Age of Disclosure of Childhood Sexual Abuse is 52 Y.O. Missouri State Rep Brian Seitz Is Doing Something About It. — 22 Comments

  1. Representative Seitz,

    If you are listening in, thank you for championing legislation in your State to address this important issue. A walk through the multitude of posts on The Wartburg Watch pertaining to child sexual abuse and “delayed disclosure” indicate how widespread this problem is … and, sadly, reveal the depth of this sin/crime in Christian institutions.

    May God grant you the wisdom and persistence to see your proposed legislation become law. May God silence those who stand in your way in the Missouri Legislature; may He give them a convicting measure of empathy for victims to help you rather than hinder you.

    May God bless you for hearing the cries of abused children, who are still hurting decades later. May justice prevail on this side of Heaven, before abusers face Judgment Day in eternity.

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  2. As for the accusation of false memories, nothing could be further from the truth.

    There is such a thing as False Memory Syndrome, but the symptoms are completely different – NO memories at all until implanted by Repressed Memory Recovery Therapy which was a fad in the Eighties.

    These Totally Repressed Memories of Child Sexual Abuse/Satanic Ritual Abuse (following the Christianese script in Juicy detail) were a major factor in the Satanic Panic of the Eighties — until the “Therapy” was found to be actually implanting false memories instead of “recovering” repressed ones.

    The premise was that such Trauma instead of being impossible to forget was so traumatic it was completely repressed and completely forgotten almost immediately until the Heroic Therapist broke the repression and recovered the memories.

    I have been stunned by the complete memories of those who were abused regarding the moment of abuse. I describe it like this. It’s like the brain takes a picture of the abuse. Victims can often describe the smallest of details surrounding that moment.

    i.e. Total Detailed Recall of the Trauma Experience, not repeat NOT lack of any memory at all.
    Just the opposite of the Satanic Panic False Memory Syndrome described above.

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  3. A Caveat
    Children’s memories can be inaccurate, but they can also be fairly accurate, especially for emotional events. Factors that can affect the accuracy of a child’s memory include:
    Age: Memories from before age three are more likely to be false.
    Emotion: Memories of emotional events are more likely to be accurate.
    Source monitoring: Children may not be able to distinguish between what they experienced and what they heard about.
    Suggestibility: Children can be easily influenced to create false memories.
    Social expectations: Children may create false memories to meet social expectations.

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  4. senecagriggs,

    Nice try, but the rape of a child is a significant memory, just like that of a child whose house burned down in California. That memory implants quite firmly in the brain. Sometimes, the child may try to deep-six the memory, but it comes back loud and clear. I would have appreciated your attempt to dig into the entire subject of delayed disclosure. You claim to have been a counselor for a long time. Why don’t you see if you can help us instead of rushing to hint that maybe it’s all “made up.” Did you do that with your clients as well? Its too bad you weren’t around for the ACBC folks.They would have loved you.

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  5. dee: You claim to have been a counselor for a long time.

    Apparently in the mold of Job’s Counselors after they started flapping their gums with additional sin-sniffing and personal Righteousness.

    Has Seneca the Smug ever taken the side of the victims against the abusers?
    If not, he’s no different than all the church people Boz T encountered when he was a prosecutor specializing in child sexual abuse cases.

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  6. A Longitudinal Investigation of Children’s Trauma Memory Characteristics and Their Relationship with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms

    https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8096753/

    “However, observable trauma memory characteristics coded from children’s narratives were not related to PTSS (Post Traumatic Stress Symptoms) at any time. This suggests that children’s perceptions of their trauma memories are a more reliable predictor of the development and maintenance of PTSS than the nature of their trauma narrative, which has important implications for clinical practice.”

    i.e. – if a child’s traumatic memory is a reliable predictor of PTSS, then a trauma occurred.

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  7. “He said that when HB-883 was presented, it received 152 votes for and zero votes against. However, it languished in committee … there are powerful lobbying groups who do not want this bill to pass”

    Committee members and lobbying groups beware:

    “He who shuts his ears to the cries of the oppressed will be ignored in his own time of need.” (Proverbs 21:13)

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  8. With the internet, everyday we read about women teachers having sex with students, those two homosexual men in Atlanta who adopted and then rented out their two young sons for sex/rape and the children being trafficked by family members or gangs. It appears to be worsening. But memories are a tricky thing to say the least. One has to question your own memories to say nothing of other’s memories.

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  9. senecagriggs: One has to question your own memories to say nothing of other’s memories.

    (Reply & quo

    Hi there Senec’er,

    Misdirection of pronouns = bad grammar = some people who were bigger than you depersonalised you. This can also be done verbally as I have seen done several times.
    Welcome to Stockholm Syndrome.
    Instead of punishing them, you have to be hardon yourself but especially on ward patients and congregation members including us.
    I’ll call you Senec’er the Warderly.
    You sound very like Richard Dawkins who excuses the vicars, not good enough for parish service, who supervised the molesting of all the children at all his three schools. After all they didn’t always draw blood in the process and didn’t humiliate near-adults, and the custom already existed in the childhood of people now old.
    Fortunately you’ve sort of let the cat out of the bag / blown a whistle indistinctly and you’re probably over 55?
    Unfortunately you used cod psychiatry and old wives’ tales about ecclesiology as smoke screen.

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  10. Bridget,

    The woman described in Charles Spencer’s ‘A very private school’ is still at large. That was a school that posed as being in tune with religion.

    Also required reading is ‘Richie Who Cares’ by Richie Barlow and Becky Bond (this review doesn’t give much of the flavour of it)

    https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/people/child-and-sexual-abuse-survivor-hopes-book-about-traumatic-experiences-inspires-others-to-speak-out-3769128

    and illustrating that over here, professions and their favoured proxies even very currently don’t always feel obliged to exceed the standard of religion.

    There is tentative awareness of the way sexual talk gets slanted. My civics teachers from 1969 remained at large. My religious leaders gained prominence (one as beach preacher).

    Decide on a principle to argue, not a manoeuvre.

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  11. Muff Potter: No, they’re quite happy in their claims to know the mind of the Almighty, and to speak for him too.

    Recently there has been another sllew of Prophesying DJT as the REAL Second Coming of Christ.
    Check the “Pastor Planes” website today & tomrrow to see how many of the MenaGAWD’s private jets are making Pilrgimage to DC.

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