New Nonprofit Helps Defend Children Who Are Victims of Sexual Abuse

QUEENS, N.Y., September 22, 2022 (Newswire.com) - The Foundation for Child Victims of the Family Courts (FCVFC) has recently announced the formation of its newest nonprofit division: The Foundation for Defense of Child Sexual Abuse Victims.

Jill Jones Soderman, the founder and executive director of the FCVFC, sees the urgency for such a division. "Children who are subjects of sexual grooming and sexual abuse," she says, "are the least protected and the most discriminated against by criminal authorities and courts across the United States."

With its team of legal and forensic experts focusing specifically on cases of child sexual abuse, the FCVFC intends to change that.

According to the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN), in the U.S., evidence indicates that 57,329 children were victims of sexual abuse in 2016 alone. Up to 93% of these children knew their perpetrator. In up to 34% of cases, the perpetrator is a family member, even a parent.

And often, that parent is seeking custody of the child in family court.

These statistics indicate the need for a new nonprofit division. The goal is to help children in family court who have been sexually abused by a parent who is seeking custody. "Children must be seen, heard, and believed, or they cannot survive," Jones Soderman says.

Pastor Jimmy Hinton of Somerset Church of Christ in Somerset, Pennsylvania, would most likely agree. His father was a pastor who molested and abused hundreds of children, including his own daughters. "It's not a 'relationship,'" Hinton says. "It's rape."

Source: Foundation for Child Victims of the Family Courts