The case never went to trial, and Brian received some counseling, but no punishment. The revelation caused tension in the family. The book is titled "Stolen Innocence." The girls were brought to a Children's Advocacy Center where they had to tell their stories to complete strangers, something Erin wasnt looking forward to at all. It allowed me to let go of the bitterness, anger and rage I had toward him and find the freedom and peace I longed for and the ability to turn this painful event into something positive. But nothing prepared her for two traumatizing events that have turned Merryn, now 25, into an activist, determined to prevent the same thing from happening to other children. Later, just weeks before her seventh birthday, she was raped by the same man. Today there are more then 700 Children Advocacy Centers in America and millions of children have walked through those doors.Before there were CAC's children were interviewed numerous times in places such as police stations. Merryn spoke to members of the Ohio SenatePrimary and Secondary Education Committee of how she was sexually abused as a child. Erin Merryn is an author (Stolen Innocence, Living for Today, An Unimaginable Act), activist, and founder of Erin's Law. When Erin Merryn was a child, she was sexually abused by two people she knew and trusted, including a family member. The founder of Erin's Law. Therapists (and) an amazing school psychologist in high school really helped me heal. Merryn lay on blankets on the floor next to Ashley, who was in her bed. Im very concerned about the possibility of grooming or the losing the innocence of our young children. There is a misconception about this issue many people think sexual abuse only happens to the poor, to people who come from broken homes, etc. Alaska Dispatch: In your quest to get Erin's Law passed in every state, you must have encountered some surprising remarks. It would have given me courage to know that I didn't have to live in constant fear that they could hurt me, and hurt me even worse if I told anyone. This decision has brought her on a crusade across America to pass what is known as Erin's Law. House Bill 105 overwhelminglypassed the Ohio Housea year ago. The man, then in his late 20s, abused her several more times in the next year, including, she says, raping her during a daytime visit when she thought he wouldn't be home. She is the force behind passing Erin's Law across America. She now runs Carrot's Instagram and shares pictures of Carrot sharing a similar demeanor of her previously owned cat, Bailey. Teaching kids the differences between safe and unsafe touch, safe and unsafe secrets, how to report this to a safe adult and to keep reporting it if your abuse does not end, said Merryn. We need to start teaching kids this, she said. She is an activist against child sexual abuse. She is the author of Stolen Innocence, Living for . He continued to abuse her on and off for nearly two years, she says, often at holidays and celebrations with her close-knit extended family. 7Erin Merryn is a Woman of the Year because"She's taken her personal crusade and turned it into a public one. This went on for a month before police got involved. As the abuse continued, and as she was forced to see her abuser over and over again in social situations, she struggled with . [2] The family pressed charges, and the cousin eventually confessed to three counts of child sexual abuse. I remember walking out into the parking lot and feeling this sense of relief.Seven months later I would return back for the first time since my interview to begin a group with other girls who were survivors in January 1999. The next steps for the bill remain unknown. 2022 Anchorage Daily News. Erin Merryn (born February 2, 1985) is the author of Stolen Innocence, Living for Today, and An Unimaginable Act. Merryn said she testified four times for the task force. I tell parents the best way to talk to kids about this is through the swimsuit lesson, Merryn said. [5] After an evening of playing with Ashley's dollhouse and watching The Little Mermaid, the girls went to bed in Ashley's room. After years as a teen struggling with nightmares and flashbacks of my abuse, attempting suicide, self-injury, etc., I decided to use that voice to confront my abuser For seven months we corresponded in letters. I will not stop until children in all 50 states are protected from sexual abuse.". Merryn says a few months ago, a local . I left all the fragmented sentences, misspelled words, because I wanted readers to hear the voice of a young child.. Erin Merryn, a sexual abuse survivor, applauds Stewart for making her story public. He threatened her to stay silent so she kept her secrets locked away in her childhood diary. As a young child from 6 to 8 (years old), when the neighbor was abusing me, he warned me if I told anyone he would come get me; he knew where I lived. She kept quiet, but behavior problems soon followed. She earned a master's degree from Aurora University in social work. Her name is Erin Merryn and she is the founder of Erins Law. I didnt want to talk to anyone about this. The next day they told their parents. Then, Erin said she told her family too. She was abused. What once caused her shame, and something she never wanted to talk about, she now found herself wanting to turn it into a book. (Read why most child abuse goes unreported). After graduating with Bachelors and Masters Degrees in social work from Western Illinois and Aurora Universities in 2008 and 2009, Health Communications published her second book, Living for Today: From Incest and Molestation to Fearlessness and Forgiveness. Erin Elizabeth was sexually abused from 11-13 by her older cousin. When people ask how I have overcome all that I have and doing what I am doing now, passing Erin's Law in 11 states, 26 introducing it and going to each capital to testify on it, I tell them all of this comes from our creator. One personal safety lesson learned at school that actually helped me in life was "stranger danger." CBN News Self - Children's Advocate. www.accessonline.com/videos/ellen-degeneres-gives-internet-famous-cat-a-call-in-quarantine, www.rainn.org/news/president-signs-measures-support-state-action-prevent-and-address-child-sexual-abuse, www.accessonline.com/videos/ellen-degeneres-gives-internet-famous-cat-a-call-in-quarantine. In 1998 seventy five thousand six hundred and forty seven abused children were seen in one hundred and thirty nine Children's Advocacy Centers in America. Erins ongoing abuse with her friends uncle was over. Erin Merryn's memoir is about how her life was transformed on the night she was sexually abused by her cousin, someone she loved and trusted."I thought when the abuse stopped I could move on with my life. How I wondered am I suppose to tell this stranger my pain when I am too ashamed to even talk in detail with my parents about it. After Bailey's passing, she adopted a kitten named Carrot. She didn't want to stop visiting her friend but tried to find times when Richard wasn't around. Hes grown into quite the little man and doesnt want me near the bathroom when he showers or gets dressed and I respect that. But her nightmare was just beginning. Merryn is a national spokesperson for the National Children's Alliance, becoming the first survivor of child sexual abuse that went through a Children's Advocacy Center to speak on national television about her experience.[1]. Alaska Dispatch: Would something like what you are proposing -- Erin's Law -- have helped you? He was the father of my best friend. Immediately I thought I was being asked this question because she already did not believe me. "I didn't understand what was going on," she says. There was one good thing about my sister coming forward, she said. Im terribly concerned about that, said OBrien. I got five sentences to my five pages, but he responded and it opened a door of communication, she said. Eleven-year-old Erin Merryn's life was transformed on the night she was sexually abused by her cousin, someone she loved and trusted. At a family gathering at her grandparents' lake house, she awoke in the middle of the night to find her cousin "Brian" (again, not his real name), then 13 . Do you know if it was as healing for him as it was for you? Someone should have known in my earlier years when I was being abused by an adult neighbor. Did you have a helper or helpers in your life? A week later, she got a reply. Merryn worked with U.S. Learn More. Erin Elizabeth had cheerful holidays turned into a fight to protect herself from evil where she often lost. Again, she was told to keep quiet, that no one would believe her if she said anything and that she had no proof. Details Eleven-year-old Erin Merryn's life was transformed on the night she was sexually abused by her cousin, someone she loved and trusted. I also learned in group how to create a safe place to escape to when memories flooded my memory.While I was not ready at thirteen and fourteen to immediately share the journey of what all I went through because I was still too ashamed the Children's Advocacy Center laid the foundation in my healing to one day let that voice be heard. In December 2015, President Obama signed the federal version of Erin's Law providing federal funding toschools to provide this education. 4 mos. Two of those children were my sister and I. So, she forgave him. Senator Gillibrand on the federal version of Erin's Law to give federal funding to the law, and in December 2015 President Obama signed the federal version of Erin's Law under the Every Student Succeeds Act. He was free, but the rage inside Erin remained. The place Erin reclaimed her voice and began her journey to healing. I always feared he would come back. (See Gary Glitter's sex scandal.). Statistics show that one in four girls and one in six boys will be sexually abused by the age of 18. Check out pictures, bibliography, and biography of Erin Merryn Merryn believes more can be done to ensure children also learn how learn how to protect themselves from sexual predators. High near 60F. He'd conditioned and kept me silent for two years, so he knew he could get away with that behavior, even with so many people around. Merryn: Yes. Thats precisely why she does what she does. In her diary Erin Merryn reveals how her life was transformed one night when, as an eleven-year-old, she was sexually abused in her grandparents condo by her cousin, someone she loved and trusted. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph. She is at war against this silent evil that is lurking in the shadows and is devoted to opening the eyes of the public to the tens of thousands of children who are being abused right now silently in our own communities and backyards without our knowledge. 2023, Charter Communications, all rights reserved. Erin's Law, which debuted in Illinois, is now in 37 states and mandates that public schools teach age-appropriate sex abuse prevention to grades as young as pre-K. Merryn said those lessons on . Her courage breaking her silence allowed me to take a stand for both of us and be brave and tell her we can't keep this a secret, that we have to tell our parents. There are thousands of accused sex offenders every year who are found not guilty living in our communities. Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, I met my best friend in kindergarten. That is what brought Erin to tell her story at Metamora Township High School last Monday afternoon, during an all-school assembly. Erins Law soon caught on nationwide. It wasnt until Erin was 13 and found out the same thing was happening to her little sister (then age 11), that she decided she needed to speak out. Do you believe one word is more appropriate than the other? Was this just bad luck? The cousin used the same tactic as her first abuser telling her no one would believe her and there was no proof. How did you find this voice? My parents believed me and my cousin Brian confessed to the police, she said. She came to me after I had been abused for two years and told me words I never expected to hear, that she too was being abused by the same family member. Here's How We Amplify It | National Children's Alliance", "Erin Merryn Fights for Law to Help Child Sexual Assault Victims", "Erin's Law: When the Abuser Is No Stranger", "State Senate Passes Erin Merryn's Law Aimed at Child Sex Abuse Prevention", "Survivor Recalls Alleged Incest in Book", "Child Sexual Abuse Survivor Gets Law Passed", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Erin_Merryn&oldid=1132623568, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 9 January 2023, at 19:15. By speaking up even when family is against the idea, it is freedom for a survivor and allows them to reclaim a piece of their lives back. It is when they hear my story of how I was raped, and how my abusers controlled the situation by being the only ones talking to me about what was happening, that they "get it." Erin Merryn A Voice for the Voiceless Author, Activist, Speaker, wife, mother, and force behind Erin's Law Glamour Magazine 2012 Woman of the Year. Merryn advocates for sexual abuse victims. ", Merryn's family, including her two sisters, moved to another neighborhood in the same town when Merryn was 8, and she stopped seeing Ashley. It can happen to anyone, which is why we need to empower our children with their voice to speak up and tell and to not keep it a secret if they are abused. It was a detailed account of how an officer came to her school to talk about stranger danger. The shame is so overwhelming. Merryn saidif parents are not comfortable, the bill allows parents toopt their kids out of the education. The parents can then share the information that the schools provided with anyone else in their household. Erin Merryn (born February 2, 1985) is the author of Stolen Innocence, Living for Today, and An Unimaginable Act. Is there anything about your life circumstances that you think made you a target? The day I left that place I took a piece of my life back, and that was my voice. 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