New York Child Sex Abuse Lawyer

We represent survivors of child sexual abuse and families seeking accountability across New York City and throughout the state. Children depend on adults and institutions to protect them, and those who exploit that trust must be held responsible.

Our firm was founded by Gloria Allred, one of the nation’s most recognized civil rights attorneys, and we have spent decades advocating for survivors of sexual assault, child sexual abuse, harassment, and institutional misconduct. Gloria Allred is admitted to practice in New York and is widely known for representing survivors in high-profile cases involving powerful individuals and organizations.

Child sexual abuse can affect a survivor’s emotional health, education, relationships, employment, and sense of safety for years or decades. A civil lawsuit cannot erase that harm, but it can help survivors obtain financial support, expose dangerous institutional practices, and demand accountability.

Call Allred, Maroko & Goldberg in New York City today to schedule a free, confidential consultation.

How We Help Child Sexual Abuse Survivors and Their Families

Child sexual abuse cases require legal knowledge, careful investigation, and a trauma-informed approach. You may struggle to remember dates, locate records, or talk about abuse that happened many years ago. If your child has just disclosed abuse, you may feel overwhelmed and unsure about what to do next.

A New York child sex abuse lawyer can:

• Listen to the survivor or family in a private and respectful setting
• Explain current filing deadlines under New York law
• Identify the abuser and potentially responsible institutions
• Investigate prior complaints and warning signs
• Preserve school, medical, employment, security, and communication records
• Interview witnesses
• Examine institutional policies and reporting procedures
• Evaluate negligent hiring, supervision, retention, or training
• Calculate the survivor’s financial and nonfinancial damages
• Handle communications with institutions and insurers
• Negotiate for an appropriate resolution
• File a civil lawsuit in New York Supreme Court
• Prepare the case for trial when necessary

Your safety, privacy, and preferences stay central throughout the process. We explain each stage and make sure you can decide with the full picture without unnecessary pressure.

Conduct That Can Constitute Child Sexual Abuse

Child sexual abuse can include physical contact as well as noncontact conduct intended to exploit or sexualize a child. It may occur once or continue over months or years.

Examples include:

• Sexual touching
• Rape or other sexual penetration
• Forcing or encouraging a child to touch another person
• Exposing a child to sexual activity
• Displaying pornography to a child
• Taking or distributing sexual images of a child
• Online sexual exploitation
• Sexual communications with a minor
• Grooming a child for future sexual contact
• Threatening or manipulating a child into secrecy
• Using a child in a sexual performance
• Sex trafficking of a child

The abuser may be a stranger, but child sexual abuse is frequently committed by someone the child knows or trusts. The perpetrator may be a relative, teacher, coach, clergy member, healthcare provider, counselor, childcare worker, family friend, volunteer, or another person with access to the child.

Your child cannot be blamed for what was done to them. Apparent cooperation, delayed disclosure, continued contact with the abuser, or an inability to physically resist does not make the child responsible.

What Is Grooming Under New York State Law?

Grooming is a pattern of behavior used to gain access to a child, build trust, create secrecy, and reduce the likelihood that the child will report abuse. A perpetrator may also groom the child’s parents, coworkers, or institution.

Possible grooming behavior includes:

• Giving the child special gifts or privileges
• Creating opportunities to be alone with the child
• Communicating privately through texts or social media
• Gradually testing physical boundaries
• Encouraging the child to keep secrets
• Treating one child as a favorite
• Offering rides, tutoring, or private training
• Sharing sexual jokes or inappropriate material
• Isolating the child from parents or peers
• Convincing adults that the perpetrator is uniquely trustworthy
• Threatening the child or the child’s family
• Suggesting that disclosure will cause punishment or family disruption

Individual behaviors may have innocent explanations. A pattern of secrecy, isolation, boundary violations, and escalating sexual conduct may indicate grooming.

Institutions responsible for children should train employees to recognize and respond to inappropriate boundaries. Ignoring reports or making exceptions for a popular, successful, or powerful adult can expose children to continued danger.

Who May Be Held Responsible for Child Sexual Abuse in New York?

The perpetrator may be directly liable for the abuse. Depending on the evidence, an institution or other party may also be responsible for conduct that enabled the abuse.

Potential defendants include:

• Public and private schools
• School districts
• Religious organizations
• Youth sports organizations
• Camps
• Daycare centers
• Foster care agencies
• Residential treatment facilities
• Healthcare organizations
• Hospitals and medical practices
• Counseling organizations
• Community programs
• Employers
• Property owners
• Entertainment organizations
• Government agencies
• Other organizations entrusted with children

Institutional liability is not automatic. A civil investigation may focus on whether an organization knew or should have known about the danger and whether reasonable protective measures could have prevented the abuse.

Institutional Failures That Lead to Liability

Organizations may be responsible when their intentional or negligent conduct contributes to child sexual abuse. Potential failures include:

• Inadequate background checks
• Negligent hiring
• Failure to verify qualifications or references
• Inadequate employee training
• Insufficient supervision
• Ignoring earlier complaints
• Failing to investigate boundary violations
• Allowing unauthorized one-on-one access to children
• Failing to enforce communication policies
• Transferring an accused employee without addressing the danger
• Concealing complaints from parents or authorities
• Destroying or failing to preserve records
• Retaliating against employees or families who report concerns
• Prioritizing the organization’s reputation over child safety

Expect the institution to argue that the perpetrator acted alone and outside the scope of employment. That does not necessarily resolve whether the institution’s own negligence contributed to the abuse.

For example, a youth organization may receive repeated reports that a coach privately messages children and arranges unsupervised meetings. If the organization ignores those warnings and abuse follows, its knowledge and response may become central to a civil claim.

Steps to Take After a Child Discloses Abuse in New York

Meet your child’s disclosure with calm, belief, and reassurance. Children may disclose in fragments, use indirect language, or provide additional details over time.

Helpful steps may include:

• Make sure the child is safe from the suspected abuser
• Listen without expressing blame
• Reassure the child that the abuse was not their fault
• Avoid repeatedly questioning or coaching the child
• Write down the child’s words as accurately as possible
• Preserve texts, social media messages, photographs, and devices
• Seek appropriate medical and psychological care
• Report current danger to the appropriate authorities
• Save the names of witnesses
• Keep school, activity, attendance, and treatment records
• Avoid confronting the suspected abuser in a way that could endanger the child or evidence
• Contact a lawyer to discuss civil rights and deadlines

Avoid promising a particular outcome. It may be more helpful to tell the child that adults will work to keep them safe and that they did the right thing by speaking up.

If your child has disclosed sexual abuse, or you are an adult survivor of childhood abuse, we’re here to help. Contact us at 646-992-2184 today.

Evidence That Supports a Child Sex Abuse Claim

Your testimony is evidence. A case does not necessarily require a confession, eyewitness, criminal conviction, or contemporaneous medical report.

Other evidence may include:

• Text messages and emails
• Social media communications
• Photographs or videos
• Medical and therapy records
• School or activity records
• Attendance and scheduling records
• Access logs and surveillance footage
• Reports made to teachers, administrators, supervisors, or parents
• Police or child-protection records
• Statements to friends or relatives
• Witness observations
• The perpetrator’s personnel file
• Background-check records
• Prior complaints involving the perpetrator
• Internal investigation documents
• Organizational policies and training materials
• Evidence that an institution transferred or protected the perpetrator
• A private chronology prepared by the survivor

Older cases may require creative investigation. Former employees, archived records, newsletters, yearbooks, directories, meeting minutes, insurance records, and prior lawsuits may help establish the perpetrator’s role and the institution’s knowledge.

Child Sex Abuse That Went Unreported for Years

Delayed disclosure is common in child sexual abuse cases. Children may not understand what happened or have the words to describe it. They may fear punishment, family disruption, disbelief, retaliation, or harm to someone they love.

Perpetrators often exploit authority, dependency, secrecy, and shame. An abuser may tell the child that no one will believe them or that disclosure will destroy the family or institution.

Some survivors do not fully process the abuse until adulthood. Delayed disclosure does not mean the abuse did not occur.

We can investigate a claim even when decades have passed. The passage of time can create evidentiary challenges, but documents, witnesses, prior complaints, and institutional records may still exist.

What Is the New York Child Victims Act?

The New York Child Victims Act expanded the time available to bring civil claims arising from sexual abuse committed against a person younger than 18.

Under CPLR Section 208(b), qualifying civil claims may be brought against parties whose intentional or negligent acts contributed to the abuse on or before the survivor reaches age 55. The law can apply to claims against the perpetrator and liable third parties.

The New York Courts explain that survivors may bring civil cases against abusers or liable institutions, such as schools or religious organizations, until age 55. These cases generally begin in the New York Supreme Court.

The Child Victims Act also created a temporary statewide lookback period for older claims that were already time-barred. That revival period has closed. Speak with us anyway, because current age-based deadlines, other statutes, or different legal theories may still allow a claim.

How Long Does a Survivor Have to File a Lawsuit in New York?

For qualifying child sexual abuse claims, New York law generally allows a civil lawsuit to be filed until the survivor reaches age 55. However, deadlines remain fact-specific.

The applicable deadline can depend on:

• Your age
• The type of conduct
• The date and location of the abuse
• The identity of the defendants
• Whether the defendant is a public or private institution
• Whether another state’s law may apply
• Whether the claim involves conduct outside New York
• Whether a different statute or tolling rule applies

Do not wait until the survivor is close to age 55. Records may be destroyed, witnesses may die or become difficult to locate, and institutions may merge, close, or reorganize.

Moving early lets us preserve evidence and identify insurance policies or other sources of recovery before they disappear.

Is a Criminal Conviction Required in New York?

No criminal conviction is necessarily required to pursue a civil child sexual abuse case. Criminal and civil proceedings are separate.

In a criminal case, government prosecutors decide whether to file charges and seek criminal punishment. In a civil case, the survivor or the survivor’s representative pursues compensation and other available relief.

The absence of criminal charges does not stop you from filing a civil lawsuit. A criminal investigation may still provide evidence, but the civil claim must be evaluated independently.

Can an Adult File a New York Lawsuit for Abuse That Happened During Childhood?

Yes. Many New York child sexual abuse cases are filed by adults seeking accountability for abuse that occurred years or decades earlier.

You may bring claims against the perpetrator and against potentially liable institutions. A lawyer can investigate whether the institution knew of prior complaints, failed to supervise the perpetrator, or concealed misconduct.

Adult survivors control their civil cases. They can work with counsel to decide whether to pursue pre-litigation negotiations, a confidential resolution, or a public lawsuit.

Damages That May Be Available For New York Child Sex Abuse Lawsuits

Child sexual abuse can cause long-term physical, psychological, educational, and financial harm. Potential damages may include:

• Past and future medical expenses
• Therapy and counseling costs
• Lost wages
• Reduced earning capacity
• Educational disruption
• Physical pain
• Emotional distress
• Post-traumatic stress
• Anxiety and depression
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Damage to relationships
• Relocation or security expenses
• Punitive damages when legally available
• Other appropriate relief

The value of a case depends on the survivor’s injuries, available evidence, responsible parties, institutional conduct, and legal remedies.

No attorney can guarantee a particular result. A complete damages analysis should account for both immediate and long-term consequences.

How a New York Child Sex Abuse Case Proceeds

A civil child sex abuse case may involve:

1. Confidential consultation: The survivor or family discusses what happened and identifies immediate concerns.
2. Deadline review: The attorney analyzes the survivor’s age, dates, defendants, and applicable statutes.
3. Investigation: Records, witnesses, prior complaints, institutional policies, and available insurance are examined.
4. Preservation demands: Institutions may be instructed to preserve relevant documents and electronic evidence.
5. Pre-suit negotiations: The parties may explore a resolution before a lawsuit is filed.
6. Filing the case: A civil complaint is filed in the appropriate New York Supreme Court.
7. Discovery: The parties exchange documents, answer questions, and take depositions.
8. Mediation or settlement: A neutral mediator may assist the parties in seeking a resolution.
9. Trial: If the case cannot be resolved, the evidence may be presented to a judge or jury.

Settlement may offer privacy, certainty, and control. Trial may provide public accountability and a formal decision. A lawyer should prepare for both possibilities while respecting the survivor’s goals.

Protecting a Survivor’s Identity

Court filings are generally public, but survivors may have options for protecting identifying information. Depending on the circumstances, an attorney may ask the court to allow a pseudonym, redact sensitive information, or enter protective orders governing confidential records.

Anonymity is not automatic and depends on the court’s decision. Privacy concerns should be addressed before a complaint is filed.

A confidential pre-litigation resolution may also be possible. Any confidentiality provision should be reviewed carefully to ensure the survivor understands its scope and consequences.

Why Choose Allred, Maroko & Goldberg?

We were founded five decades ago by Gloria Allred, Michael Maroko, and Nathan Goldberg. We have built our practice around helping survivors, employees, and civil rights victims confront powerful individuals and institutions.

 We have recovered more than $1 billion for clients across our practice areas, and we are recognized nationally for our advocacy on behalf of survivors and victims. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.

Gloria Allred is admitted to practice in New York and is nationally recognized for representing survivors of sexual abuse and institutional misconduct. 

Child sexual abuse cases require extensive investigation, discretion, and compassion. We approach each survivor’s experience with seriousness and respect.

Allred, Maroko & Goldberg Is Ready to Help, Talk to Us

Child sexual abuse thrives when perpetrators rely on silence, shame, and institutional protection. Survivors have the right to speak, seek answers, and pursue accountability when they are ready.

Allred, Maroko & Goldberg is prepared to investigate abusers and institutions, locate evidence, and pursue justice through negotiation or litigation. We understand that these cases require both forceful advocacy and compassionate client care.

Call Allred, Maroko & Goldberg in New York City at 646-992-2184 to schedule a free, confidential consultation.

This page provides general information and does not constitute legal advice. Every child sexual abuse case is different, and filing deadlines may apply.

Frequently Asked Questions About New York Child Sex Abuse Claims

Can I sue a school, church, or youth organization?

Potentially. An institution may be liable where its own negligence contributed to the abuse, through failures in hiring, supervision, or retention, ignoring earlier complaints, or allowing someone to remain in a position of trust after warning signs appeared. The claim against the institution is separate from the claim against the abuser and often carries far greater practical value, because organisations hold insurance and assets that an individual usually does not. Institutional records also tend to reveal what was known internally and when.

What if the abuser was a volunteer?

Volunteer status does not insulate an organisation from responsibility. What matters is the relationship between the organisation and that person, the access it granted, and whether reasonable screening and supervision were in place. Organisations frequently apply lighter vetting to volunteers than to employees, and where abuse follows, that gap becomes part of the negligence case rather than a defence to it.

Can I bring a claim if the abuser is deceased?

Often yes. A claim may proceed against the abuser’s estate, and more importantly against any institution whose conduct contributed to the abuse. Institutional liability does not depend on the abuser being alive or available, and in many older cases the institution is the only realistic defendant. The death of the person responsible is a reason to have the claim assessed rather than a reason to assume nothing can be done.

What if I do not remember exact dates?

Precise dates are rarely necessary. Memory of childhood trauma is often organised around places, people, ages, school years, and events rather than calendar dates, and courts understand this. What usually matters is establishing the period, the setting, and the relationship involved. Institutional records, employment histories, enrolment records, and the accounts of others can frequently supply the specifics that memory cannot.

Do I need a police report?

No. A police report is not required to bring a civil claim, and its absence does not suggest the abuse did not happen. Many survivors never reported to law enforcement, particularly where the abuse occurred during childhood or where the abuser held a position of authority. A report can be useful evidence where one exists, but civil claims are regularly built without one, using institutional records, witness accounts, and prior complaints about the same person.

Can a parent file on behalf of a child?

Yes. A parent or legal guardian can generally bring a claim on behalf of a minor, and doing so promptly matters because it allows evidence to be preserved while it still exists. Surveillance footage, electronic records, and internal reports are routinely overwritten or destroyed on a schedule. Early legal involvement means preservation notices can be sent before that happens, which is frequently what determines whether a case can be proved.

Can an adult survivor file without involving their parents?

Yes. If you are an adult, the claim is yours and the decisions about it are yours, including whether anyone in your family is told. Many survivors pursue claims without involving relatives at all. We can also discuss privacy protections available in appropriate cases, including applications to proceed under a pseudonym, so that pursuing accountability does not require disclosing your identity publicly.

How much does a child sex abuse case settle for?

There is no standard figure, and outcomes vary widely. The value depends on the severity and duration of the abuse, its lasting effects on health, education, relationships and earning capacity, the evidence available, which institutions bear responsibility, and the insurance coverage in place. Cases involving institutional failure and documented prior complaints generally resolve very differently from those involving an individual defendant alone. A thorough investigation is what establishes the real scope of the harm.