You can help protect children from sexual abuse and assault this legislative session in Annapolis.

In December 2015, Congress passed and the President approved the "Every Child Achieves Act,” bipartisan legislation which permits states to use federal funding for child sexual abuse prevention.

Similar measures called "Erin’s Law" have been passed in 26 other states and are being deliberated in at least 15 other states currently. You can learn more at http://www.erinmerryn.net/

In Maryland, such a bill has been introduced by Montgomery County Delegate, Eric Luedtke in House Bill 72: Education - Sexual Abuse and Assault Awareness and Prevention Program. This act, if passed, will require the State Board of Education, and certain nonpublic schools, to develop and implement programs relating to sexual abuse and assault awareness and prevention programs in public and nonpublic schools in the State.

Erin Merryn, the national child sexual abuse education advocate and survivor behind “Erin’s Law,” uses a perfect analogy of how education in schools works to protect children. Merryn states, “The same way we would want a child to escape a burning building and say no to drugs, we want to teach school children how to say no to a sexual predator and escape further harm, or tell immediately after something happens instead of staying silent out of fear.”

Testimony in support of House Bill 72 was heard by the Maryland House of Delegates Ways & Means Committee last Thursday, February 4, 2016. Representatives from Baltimore Child Abuse Center, Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault, the Archdiocese of Baltimore, and survivors of sexual abuse and assault testified in Annapolis with Erin Merryn in support of House Bill 72. You can read the bill here http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2016RS/bills/hb/hb0072F.pdf and watch WBAL’s coverage of the hearing http://www.wbaltv.com/politics/bill-would-require-sex-abuse-prevention-courses-in-maryland-schools/37822866

An estimated 42 million survivors of childhood sexual assault exist in America today. Maryland needs to stand up for its children so that we can protect them from this pervasive crime of secrecy. An educated child is a healthy, protected child.

We are calling on our elected officials in the Maryland House of Delegates Ways & Means Committee to recognize that this important sexual abuse and assault education being taught in schools is vital to keeping children safe by voting “yes” to House Bill 72. And we need your help to inform your Delegate that you care about protecting children.