By TIM KOSNOFF

Members of my law firm would be less than candid if we said we aren’t pleased with the publicity our work has recently won. This isn’t so much because of any benefit the media coverage has brought to us. It’s about the nature of the work we do: defending child victims of sexual predators.

From years of representing abuse victims, I’ve learned that the media spotlight is nearly always welcome. That’s because the press spells out the horrors of sexual abuse and the often egregious enabling on the part of institutions. And the court of public opinion demands change. We saw it in 2002 when the Boston Globe uncovered wide-spread sexual abuse by priests within the Archdiocese of Boston. In the ensuing decade, similar cases came to light nationwide. We saw it this year with Penn State. And now we’re likely to see the public demanding improved safety measures from the Boy Scouts of America. The media interest in recent days promises to give victims ever greater impetus to come forward and join the battle against pedophiles, so many of whom continue to function undiscovered and unpunished.
This past week, we’ve spoken with reporters from “CBS Morning News,” CNN, the Los Angeles Times, The Oregonian and The San Diego Union-Tribune, to name a few news organizations. Each reporter has been asking the right questions: How could this happen? How could an organization that professes to hold dear the finest of American values continue to put kids at risk?

Reporters have been thoughtful in their questions and their approach to the story. All of this is bittersweet because for years it’s often been a solo journey, fighting with brave clients along the way. I was hoping that at some point the broader public could see what I saw in these confidential files and share my concern.

Sharing this information with welcomed readers is scarcely about self-aggrandizement. It’s about taking this cause forward one reader — or one thousand — at a time.

For further reading:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-boy-scouts-release-20121009,0,2956122.story

http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2012/10/seattle_attorney_posts_data_on.html

If someone you know needs help, you can contact us:

Our attorneys are highly experienced in childhood sexual abuse law and offer free initial consultations to potential clients. We are also willing to assist other attorneys in sexual abuse cases. Please call 206-257-3590, or email us directly. Conversations will be kept confidential, and even if you are unsure about a lawsuit, often we can direct you to the assistance you need. You will be treated with compassion and respect.

Toll free: 855-529-4274
Tim Kosnoff, direct: 425-837-9690
Dan Fasy, direct: 206-462-4338
Kosnoff Fasy, Seattle office: 206-257-3590

For immediate release: Oct. 8, 2012

Seattle attorney releases list of 1,900 alleged Boy Scout child sex-abusers in advance of upcoming Oregon court-ordered release of records

Attorney Tim Kosnoff: ‘The Public Will Demand Better Safety Measures When They See What’s in These Files’

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(SEATTLE, WA) – For nearly a century, the Boy Scouts of America has quietly compiled the names of thousands of accused child molesters within its ranks. The Scouts says it has maintained the records, known as the “perversion files,” as part of a decades-long effort to keep tabs on bad leaders and prevent abuse. Victims’ advocates, however, say the Scouts has done little to warn youngsters about the risks of encountering predators. For perspective: The Boy Scouts of America’s internal files document some 20,000 alleged pedophiles over the past 100 years; Penn State’s sexual-abuse scandal earlier this year involved one sex offender.

Today, Seattle attorney Tim Kosnoff released to the public for the first time the Boy Scouts’s own internal list of 1,900 accused sex-abusers, in advance of a court-ordered release of the files by the Scouts itself within the next week or so. Kosnoff posted the list on his web site, Kosnoff.com.

Kosnoff said the safety of children is too important for this information to be kept under wraps.

“The public will demand better safety measures when they see what’s in these files,” Kosnoff said. “If someone were to ask me if I’d enroll my child in the Boy Scouts, I’d say that I couldn’t in good conscience recommend it. I can’t say it’s a safe organization.”

Last summer, the Oregon Supreme Court ruled that the Scouts had to hand over thousands of documents from 1966-1985, detailing sex-abuse allegations against scout leaders from across the country. Kosnoff’s records detail information on alleged abusers in scouting from 1949-2005, the result of years of work on behalf of more than 100 clients he has represented in cases against the Scouts.

For years, the Scouts has fought disclosure of its “ineligible volunteer” files to the courts, saying it wanted to protect victims. Kosnoff said altruism doesn’t tell the whole story of the Scouts’ actions, as the youth-serving organization over the years has destroyed thousands of its own records but still has more than 6,000 records in its possession. Kosnoff himself has spent more than a decade battling the Scouts in cases that included seeking release of secret files.

In his work as a trial attorney, Kosnoff gathered 65,000 pages of documents over many years and from a variety of sources, including court cases and those who had access to the Scouts’ database. Kosnoff then spent several years compiling indexes and analyzing the materials. His 1971-1991 index identifies 1,932 volunteers expelled for alleged inappropriate sexual conduct with children. His 1949-2005 index contains file information on 3,200 additional adult volunteers expelled for alleged misconduct with children. Kosnoff made annotated notes on thousands of alleged perpetrators and shared this information with the Los Angeles Times in Spring 2011. This information resulted in a recent series of investigative articles by the Los Angeles Times.

Kosnoff said he’s releasing his indexes of accused perpetrators but won’t release the actual files, which contain the un-redacted names of victims.

Among the trends Kosnoff has seen in Scouts “ineligible volunteer” files:

▪Predatory adults, who seek out scouting for access to victims.

▪Admitted or re-admitted adult scout volunteers previously caught abusing children or scouts.

▪Adult scout volunteers, who abuse multiple scout victims, not just one victim.

▪Serious criminal convictions and prison sentences documented among the Scouts’ list of ineligible volunteers.

▪Adult scout leaders who possess and/or produce child pornography.

▪Adult scout leaders who were allowed unfettered access to kids, permitting them to sleep in the same tent.

▪Adult scout leaders, who sexually abused kids on camping trips or on unsupervised outings outside of scouting.

▪ Patterns of grooming behavior, such as trust-building, isolation, discussion of sex, followed by abuse.

▪ Adult volunteers alleged to be pedophiles associating with other alleged pedophiles.

▪ Some youth sexually abused in scouting, who went on to become sexual abusers themselves.

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If someone you know needs help, you can contact us:

Our attorneys are highly experienced in childhood sexual abuse law and offer free initial consultations to potential clients. We are also willing to assist other attorneys in sexual abuse cases. Please call 206-257-3590, or email us directly. Conversations will be kept confidential, and even if you are unsure about a lawsuit, often we can direct you to the assistance you need. You will be treated with compassion and respect.

Toll free: 855-529-4274
Tim Kosnoff, direct: 425-837-9690
Dan Fasy, direct: 206-462-4338
Kosnoff Fasy, Seattle office: 206-257-3590

The CBC recently revealed Scouts Canada’s uncovered files that showed years of sexual abuse and pedophilia in the scouts. Tim Kosnoff helped to uncover those files.
A review of how Scouts Canada handled allegations of sexual abuse by its group leaders has found that dozens of cases reported to the organization were not passed on to the police.

Despite past assurances by Scouts Canada that it had informed police about “every record of abuse” within its ranks, the audit has found at least 65 instances where that did not happen.

Watch the excerpts from Tim Kosnoff’s interview with the CBC on the Scouts Canada Case here.

If you are looking for child abuse attorneys, Kosnoff Fasy has experience in boy scout abuse, mormon sexual abuse, catholic church abuse, and more. You can contact us at kosnoff.com or Toll Free: 1-855-LAW-4-CSA

The Following is posted from http://www.snapnetwork.org. SNAP Offers great resources for those dealing with Abuse.
Flashbacks are normal
Vietnam vets have normalized this experience and have coined the term Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome.

Even the diagnostic category book for psychiatry defines Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome as the normal experience of experiencing an event that is outside the range of normal human experience. Flashbacks feel crazy because the little one doesn’t know that there is an adult survivor available to help.

What helps

1. Tell yourself that you are having a flashback.
2. Remind yourself that the worst is over. The feelings and sensations you are experiencing are memories of the past. The actual event took place long ago when you were younger, and you survived. Now it is time to let out that terror, rage, hurt and/or panic. Now is the time to honor your experience.
3. Get grounded. This means stamping your feet on the ground so that the little one knows you have feet and can get away if you need to. If the trauma occurred as a child, you couldn’t get away. Now you can.
4. Breathe. When we get scared we stop normal breathing. As a result, our body begins to panic from the lack of oxygen. Lack of oxygen in itself causes a great deal of panic feelings: pounding in the head, tightness, sweating, feeling faint, shakiness, dizziness. When we breathe deeply enough, a lot of the panic feeling can decrease. Breathing deeply means putting your hand on your diaphragm and breathing deeply enough so that your diaphragm pushes against your hand and then exhaling so that the diaphragm goes in.
5. Reorient to the present. Begin to use your five senses in the present. Look around and see the colors in the room, the shapes of things, the people near, etc. Listen to the sounds around you: your breathing, traffic, birds, people, cars, etc. Feel your body and what is touching it: your clothes, your own arms and hands, the chair or floor supporting you.
6. Speak to the little one and reassure him/her. It is very healing to get your adult in the now, that you can get out if you need to, that it is OK to feel the feelings of long ago without reprisal. The child needs to know that it is safe to experience the feelings/sensations and let go of the past.
7. Get in touch with your needs for boundaries. Sometimes when we are having a flashback we lose the sense of where we leave off and the world begins; as if we do not have skin. Wrap yourself in a blanket, hold a pillow or stuffed animal, go to bed, sit in a closet… any way that you can feel yourself truly protected from the outside.
8. Get support. Depending on your situation, you may need to be alone or may want someone near you. In either case, it is important that your close ones know about flashbacks so they can help with the process, whether that means letting you be by yourself or being there.
9. Take time to recover. Sometimes flashbacks are very powerful. Give yourself the time to make the transition from this powerful experience. Don’t expect yourself to jump into adult activities right away. Take a nap, or a warm bath, or some quiet time. Do not beat yourself up for having a flashback. Appreciate how much you went through. . .
10. Honor your experience. Appreciate yourself for having survived that horrible time [when you were younger]. Respect your body’s need to experience those feelings of long ago.
11. Be patient. It takes time to heal the past. It takes time to learn appropriate ways of taking care of self., of being an adult who has feelings, and developing effective ways of coping in the here and now.
12. Find a competent therapist. Look for a therapist who understands the processes of healing from [trauma: incest, rape, war.] A therapist can be a guide, a support, a coach in this healing process. You do not have to do it alone . . . ever again.
13. Join a self-help group. Survivors are wonderful allies in this process of healing. It is a healing thing to share your process with others who understand so deeply what you are going through.
14. Know you are not crazy… you are healing!

If you are looking for child abuse attorneys, Kosnoff Fasy has experience in boy scout abuse, mormon sexual abuse, catholic church abuse, and more. You can contact us at kosnoff.com or Toll Free: 1-855-LAW-4-CSA