State legislators and survivors of abuse discussing the Child Victims Act (photo: NY Senate)
Last week, advocates rallied in Albany to call on the State Assembly to pass the Adult Survivors Act, a landmark law that would create a lookback period allowing the adult victims of sexual assault and abuse whose claims are now time-barred to pursue those claims in court.
The advocates are right: Passing the Adult Survivors Act is absolutely essential if we are to provide justice to the countless people, mostly women, in New York State who have been assaulted and abused.
The Adult Survivors Act was passed unanimously by the State Senate back in June. However, the Assembly, for reasons that remain unclear, failed to even bring it to a vote at that time. It is imperative that the Assembly does so now.
The Adult Survivors Act is modelled on the Child Victims Act, which created a lookback window for survivors of sexual assault who were under the age of 18 at the time of the assault. The Child Victims Act resulted in over 9,000 lawsuits and has been incredibly effective at holding institutions accountable for long-ago abuse of children.
To understand the importance of the Adult Survivors Act it is worth looking at the details of the Child Victims Act. In February 2019, New York State passed the Child Victims Act, extending the statute of limitations for survivors of child sexual abuse in criminal and civil cases in New York.
Previously, in criminal cases, the statute of limitations for felony offenses ended when the survivor turned 23 years old; now, the Child Victims Act increases the statute of limitations until the survivor turns 28. For misdemeanor offenses, the statute of limitations had ended when the survivor turned 20, but has now been increased to 25 years of age.
In civil cases, prior to the Child Victims Act, the victims of child sexual abuse had only a short window of years, after turning 18, to bring a civil lawsuit against their abuser. The Child Victims Act created a “lookback window” for those cases as well, allowing any victim of sexual abuse whose claim was previously time-barred to bring an action up until August 14, 2020. That window was later extended to August 14, 2021. For claims that have not yet expired, the survivor now has until they turn 55 to file a claim.
The Child Victims Act allowed survivors of sexual abuse to hold powerful institutions liable for abuse that they tolerated for years. It helped more than 9,000 survivors seek justice for the wrongs committed against them. We’ve seen that first-hand. We’ve represented survivors of child sexual abuse and understand how empowering it can be to assert a claim and confront an abuser and finally get justice.
So why do we need the Adult Survivors Act? The Child Victims Act only applied to cases of abuse where the victim was under 18 years of age. The Adult Survivors Act would create a similar one-year lookback window for survivors of sexual abuse who are over 18 and whose claims are presently time-barred.
For civil cases, right now, adult survivors of sexual abuse generally have three years to file a claim. For criminal cases, the statute of limitation is generally five years for felonies, and two years for misdemeanors – some of which can be quite serious.
There has been some progress: In September 2019, the New York Legislature extended the limitations period for some rape and sexual assault cases. That was good news, but the 2019 Law did not extend all limitations periods and, more important, it did not create a lookback window. Therefore, sexual assault claims involving adult survivors that were time-barred in 2019 remain time-barred. Only the Adult Survivors Act will fix this problem.
The Adult Survivors Act should be seen as a necessary companion bill to the Child Victims Act. Given the historical stigma attached to sexual assault, as well as the career threat that reporting assault by a superior at work can entail, it is no surprise that many sexual assault survivors did not report their assaults at the time they occurred or in the years immediately following. With time, however, some survivors are able to come forward. Unfortunately, by the time they do so, the statute of limitations has often passed, and so legal redress is unavailable.
The Adult Survivors Act, by creating a lookback window, would solve this problem. Like the Child Victims Act, it would allow survivors to finally hold powerful institutions and individuals accountable for their conduct.
***
Lesley Brovner and Mark Peters are the founding partners of the law firm Peters Brovner and have represented multiple victims of sexual assault.
***
Have an op-ed idea or submission for Gotham Gazette? Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Ready for a bill-signing (photo: Kevin P. Coughlin/Office of the Governor)
Even before the pandemic, domestic violence was a leading cause of family homelessness in New York City, where a majority of shelter residents are single women of color and their children. In large part, this is because for single mothers, the city’s sky-high housing costs have been a major barrier to fleeing to safety. While New York State offers rental assistance to domestic violence survivors in shelter or at risk of losing their housing through the Family Homelessness and Eviction Prevention Supplement (FHEPS) program, rental assistance levels are set so far below market rates that vouchers tend to go unused for years.
Currently there is not a single neighborhood in New York City where the median rent for a two-bedroom apartment is affordable with the existing voucher. As a result, thousands of families have been left behind by this failing program.
COVID-19 has only intensified financial insecurity for many low-income households and deeply exacerbated the challenges facing survivors. Meanwhile, the increased isolation and stress due to the pandemic made even more women at risk of domestic violence.
Now many of these families are facing their second covid winter with these twin emergencies that force them into an impossible choice – staying with their abusers or leaving and becoming homeless.
New York State has an opportunity right now to change that and help mothers and children across the state access the housing they need to stay safe. In June, state legislators passed a bill (S6573/A8009) to permanently raise the FHEPS rent cap to Fair Market Rent (FMR) and ensure more recipients can utilize their vouchers to increase housing support for families leaving an abusive home so they can afford the ever-increasing rent and have a safe place of their own.*
The FHEPS program provides support to families with minor children who receive cash assistance and allows them to relocate to housing away from their abusers and bypass the shelter system. Months later it still awaits the governor’s signature.
We are urging Governor Kathy Hochul to make a meaningful difference in the lives of survivors by signing the bill into law. While Domestic Violence Awareness Month has come to an end, it is essential that we send survivors a message that their stability and safety is important and we will support them by ensuring that leaving an abusive partner doesn’t mean they must become homeless. However, without the supplemental housing raise to Fair Market Rate, these families risk homelessness or will be stuck in the shelter system without a permanent way out.
The voucher program also contains unique eligibility guidelines intended to address the needs of domestic violence survivors who are unemployed. Many survivors are prohibited from working by their abusive partner and many others are forced to quit their jobs when they flee their abuser. This makes the housing voucher, which does not require an abuse survivor to work, a critical resource for the many survivors who don’t have additional income. By raising the supplement amount to fair market rent, the state will provide much-needed rent relief to address housing stability for thousands of women and children, not just during the pandemic, but long-term.
Over 100 organizations this year worked together to get the higher rent supplement passed in Albany. With Governor Hochul’s signature, this change has the potential to profoundly reduce homelessness in New York State and provide a lifeline to survivors of abuse who would not be able to escape without housing support.
The pandemic has taught us that we are only as safe as the most vulnerable among us. It is a
moral and public health imperative that we ensure all New Yorkers have a stable roof overhead
and that we work to stem the homelessness crisis.
Governor, we applaud your clear-sighted leadership amid the COVID-19 crisis. Now thousands of families urgently need you to help them get the meaningful rent assistance that will enable them to build a safe and healthy life in a home of their own. Sign this bill without delay.
*Note: Even as Mayor de Blasio and Commissioner Banks recently released new regulations for CtiyFHEPS that raise rent levels for the city program, which primarily serves working households who reside in shelters and allows them to renew assistance if they earn up to 80% of AMI, the changes we seek to the state program would prevent homelessness entirely for families fleeing domestic violence and parents with children facing eviction who receive public assistance. The state can and must step up to do its part to ensure that these families, who are not eligible for the city program, can achieve housing stability and avoid homelessness.
***
Catherine Trapani is the Executive Director of Homeless Services United. Liz Roberts is CEO of Safe Horizon. On Twitter @HSUNYC and @LizRobertsSH.
***
Have an op-ed idea or submission for Gotham Gazette? Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
New York City (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)
In Southern California, three generations of a family gathered their separate households under one roof to weather the pandemic -- and liked it so much they decided to make it permanent. On the Upper West Side of Manhattan, students organized to buy groceries and essentials for the housebound. And as the virus surged, a nationwide Brides’ magazine survey of engaged couples showed that 82% found the pandemic only made them keener to wed.
COVID-19, this nation’s deadliest pandemic, has taken the lives of over 700,000 Americans and about 4.5 million people worldwide. Everyone has been through some struggle – illness, grief over unimaginable loss, or the miasma of uncertainty about jobs, education, and daily routines. Amid tragedy and challenges, though, people have shown remarkable kindness. They have also forged new bonds, gained fresh insights into what it means to be there for others, and re-examined life priorities.
A Pew research survey of what it called the pandemic’s silver linings and struggles showed the clarity that came from being thrown together or living apart from loved ones and friends, and losing the underpinnings of everyday life, from office work to entertainment. The renowned economist Paul Krugman has even theorized that workers are quitting jobs at record rates in part because the pandemic has made them rethink their lives.
As we negotiate re-entry into work, school, socializing, and public spaces, plenty of us are dusting off that saying attributed to Winston Churchill: never let a good crisis go to waste. As an advocate for mental wellbeing, I do indeed believe that we can use these difficult days to foster personal growth and improve mental fitness.
By mental fitness I mean not just getting by or holding on. Rather, I define mental fitness as actively taking steps to achieve and maintain a state of wellbeing. Wellbeing means being more intentional: naming what we think, feel, and believe, and managing our emotions and behavior. We will all have ups and downs, but the more mentally fit we are, the more likely we are to weather a major life crisis or even a global pandemic.
Our level of mental fitness indicates whether we are able to draw on coping strategies that do not involve substance misuse, withdrawal, or hurting ourselves or others. The same way we work on toning our arms and legs and increasing our strength, we can learn exercises and practice skills that help us maintain mental fitness.
Here in New York City, in mid-August we launched Mental Health for All, the first-ever comprehensive website and public education campaign to connect New Yorkers to mental health resources. This fall, we set out to make certain that our more than 300,000 city employees know that their city is here for them as we muster through this landscape of booster shots, break-through cases, and return to full-time in the office.
There are many apps and online tools to manage health and wellbeing, including this app library assembled by our city that can be used by anyone. It includes “Happify,” which uses evidence-based, game-like tools.
What are some steps anyone can take? Establish daily wellness practices: exercise, connect with friends, journal, practice yoga or meditation.
If you have a family, sticking to a routine and regularly scheduled “family meetings” to discuss problems and feelings can go a long way. Ascertain what you can control when a crisis strikes. Ask your children (and yourself) what you are feeling, why you feel that way, and what can you do to manage the feeling in a healthy way.
Children, especially, ask questions that are profound in their simplicity: why did grandma die? How do I know that covid will not get me? What do I do when I feel afraid or angry?
As a big proponent of social emotional learning (SEL), I urge parents to practice SEL skills at home. SEL is a proven educational approach used in schools nationwide, including New York City. Students learn to identify their emotions, manage feelings, build relationships, and resolve conflicts. Those skills improve behavior and academic success and can be used in every area of life.
We can model SEL skills for our children and other young people. It can be as simple as saying, “I am feeling sad today, so I plan to listen to some of my favorite music and then go for a run.”
While I encourage everyone to reach out for professional help when problems are overwhelming or they cannot function, let us remember that we need not wait until we need help to focus on our mental health. Good mental health is always important.
This pandemic has no clear ending, but we do not have to put our lives on hold. We have the power to get our hearts and minds in better shape and keep on growing.
***
Chirlane McCray is the First Lady of New York City. On Twitter @NYCFirstLady.
***
Have an op-ed idea or submission for Gotham Gazette? Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.