Childhood sexual abuse can affect an individual well into adulthood in a myriad of ways. It does not matter if the abuse involves direct contact or non-physical activities. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, approximately 674,000 children are victims of maltreatment annually, and 8.6 percent are sexually abused.

While counseling and therapy are methods used to mitigate the long-term effects, survivors are likely to experience physical, psychological, behavioral, and social complications if treatment is not sought or found to be too expensive. Even those who receive treatment may experience some of the long-term consequences.

In order to understand how childhood sexual abuse affects a victim over time, it’s crucial to recognize that there is often a cycle that survivors go through repeatedly. Survivors who are looking to recover will want to find ways to break the cycle.

Speaking up and taking legal action against an abuser is one of the most challenging things a victim of sexual assault can do. It takes an exorbitant amount of courage and trust to come forward with allegations and call on legal representation to seek justice.

While there are statutes of limitations that limit how long a person has to file a case and seek compensation for wrongdoings for many claims, the statutes of limitations for sexual assault are different. Fortunately for victims in Nebraska, no time restrictions generally exist; however, it is still important to understand how the process works, how the law defines different types of sexual assault, and where time limitations do exist.

On February 8, 2019, Eric Nelson, the principal of an Omaha Public School (OPS) elementary school, Fontenelle Elementary, was arrested after being accused of failing to report a teacher’s suspicious behavior.

In December 2018, Gregory Sedlacek, a first-grade teacher, was arrested and charged with two counts of sexual assault of a child, a seven-year-old first-grader. The arrest took place after teachers contacted the Nebraska child abuse hotline and reported inappropriate contact between Sedlacek and the student on the school’s playground. Since then, Sedlacek has been charged with six counts of first-degree sexual assault of a child and one count of third-degree sexual assault of a child.