Kansas Group: Name priests in child sex abuse report and change the statute of limitations

Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests backed legislation from a Johnson County lawmaker aimed at holding more people accountable when clergy abuse children.
The road to reporting persistent sexual abuse by her gymnastics coach in 1998 was a long and difficult one for Kim Bergman of Shawnee.

She says at 12 years old she began dealing with the memories of her coach’s hands inside her swimsuit and under her shirt by writing letters to another coach.

“It was almost like a diary-type thing,” she said. “I held onto the letters for a while before sending them.”

Her mother came across the letters, though, and quickly got Kim into therapy, but the therapist wanted to wait until Kim could come to better terms before reporting to the police, she said.