Window allowing NC child sex abuse survivors to sue their abusers about to close

"I talk to survivors and other people across North Carolina who have no idea that this was ever passed," Katie Trout said Thursday.

Trout was 15 when an adult volunteer at her Charlotte church began abusing her.

"A man who was part of that volunteer group started paying me a lot of attention. After a couple of months of him doing that, it turned into sexual abuse regularly on the campus of the church [and] off the campus of the church," said Trout, now 36, who lives in Raleigh.

The abuse continued for four years until she was finally able to tell her parents, she said.

James Edward Baker pleaded guilty in 2005 to taking indecent liberties with a minor and was sentenced to three years on probation. He is now a registered sex offender.

"I had given up thinking that I was going to be able to do anything further in terms of me seeking further justice for what had happened," Trout said.

Then she learned about the Safe Child Act in the legislature and lobbied for its passage. She was at the ceremony in Greensboro in November 2019 when Gov. Roy Cooper signed it into law.

"I knew that provision was going to mean a lot of freedom and, frankly, a lot of closure that I needed for what happened," she said.

Victim advocates say its important for survivors of child sex abuse to get validation that can come with holding the abuser responsible.

"It takes time for victims to find the courage, to feel safe enough to tell someone what's happening to them," said Cristin DeRonja, executive director of Safe Child. "The No. 1 indicator of whether or not victims of trauma can survive and thrive after that victimization is whether or not they are believed and heard and responded to."

Trout said she wants other survivors to find that validation and try to hold their abusers accountable.

"We’ve got about two weeks left in the year for them to take that step forward," she said. "I just want to encourage anyone who knows someone whose been abused – or if it's themselves – to take advantage of this remaining period of time to do something."

In her own case, Trout ended up negotiating a settlement with the church, which included getting the church to own up to its part in what happened and to put safeguards in place to keep it from happening again.

"Money has never been the impetus for me being involved, because I’ve realized that no amount of money that can ever be paid is going to be enough to cover what happened," she said.