Families turn to youth organizations to enrich their children's lives—through sports, scouting, mentorship, faith, and community. These programs are built on trust. Tragically, that same trust can be exploited by individuals who seek access to children, and by organizations that fail to put children's safety first. When a youth organization's negligence allows a child to be abused, survivors and their families deserve answers and accountability.
At Gilman & Bedigian, we represent survivors of sexual abuse that occurred within youth-serving organizations. We understand the unique pain of these cases—the sense of betrayal when an institution meant to nurture a child instead allowed harm. We approach every survivor and family with compassion and discretion, and we have the experience and resolve to hold these organizations accountable.
You are not alone. Confidential support is available 24/7 through the National Sexual Assault Hotline (RAINN) at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). Speaking with our team is also free and confidential.
When you are ready, we are here. Call 1-800-529-6162 (phones answered 24/7) or request a free, confidential consultation online. There is no fee unless we win your case.
Sexual Abuse in Youth-Serving Organizations
Youth organizations include a wide range of programs that bring adults and children together, often in settings involving travel, overnight stays, or one-on-one contact. The organizations where these cases arise include:
- Youth sports leagues, clubs, and elite training programs.
- Scouting and similar youth groups.
- Religious organizations and faith-based youth programs.
- Summer camps and overnight camps.
- Mentoring programs, including those pairing adults one-on-one with children.
- Recreational and community programs, daycares, and after-school programs.
The individuals responsible may include coaches, troop and group leaders, clergy and religious leaders, counselors, mentors, volunteers, and staff. What these cases share is a setting in which an organization had both the opportunity and the responsibility to protect children—and failed to do so.
How Youth Organizations Fail to Protect Children
Like other institutional abuse cases, claims against youth organizations focus on the organization's failures, not only on the individual who committed the abuse. Common failures include:
Inadequate background checks and screening
Organizations that work with children have a responsibility to screen the adults they place in positions of trust. Failing to conduct meaningful background checks—or ignoring warning signs—can be a basis for liability.
Failure to implement or follow youth-protection policies
Many youth organizations have, or should have, child-protection policies—such as prohibiting one adult from being alone with a child, requiring multiple adults to be present, and limiting private communication. When an organization lacks these safeguards, or fails to enforce the ones it has, children are put at risk.
Failure to supervise
Camps, trips, practices, and overnight events require appropriate supervision. Allowing unsupervised access to children, especially in isolated settings, creates opportunities for abuse.
Ignoring or concealing reports
Some of the most painful cases involve organizations that received warnings and failed to act—or that actively concealed abuse to protect their reputation. Burying complaints, failing to report to authorities, or quietly removing an abuser without warning others can all be bases for liability.
Allowing known abusers to continue or move on
A recurring and devastating pattern is the organization that learns of an abuser and, instead of stopping them, allows them to continue or to move to another chapter, team, or program—where they can harm again.
Failure to report
In many states, those who work with children are mandatory reporters legally required to report suspected abuse. A failure to report can be both unlawful and a basis for civil liability.
If your family experienced any of these failures, we can help you understand your rights. Call 1-800-529-6162 or request a confidential consultation.
Grooming, Trust, and Youth-Protection Standards
What sets youth-organization cases apart is the way abusers exploit trust—and the way strong organizational safeguards are specifically designed to prevent that exploitation. Understanding both is central to these cases.
Abuse in youth settings is frequently preceded by a pattern of behavior, often called grooming, in which an abuser builds trust with a child and the surrounding adults, gradually isolates the child, and tests boundaries over time. The reason this matters legally is that grooming is often visible to those paying attention—and youth-protection policies exist precisely to interrupt it. Well-run organizations adopt safeguards such as requiring more than one adult to be present with children, prohibiting one-on-one isolation, limiting private adult-child communication, training staff to recognize warning signs, and establishing clear reporting procedures.
When an organization ignores these widely recognized standards—or has them on paper but fails to enforce them—it can reflect exactly the kind of negligence that allows abuse to occur. Many youth organizations also operate under national or governing-body guidelines, and a failure to follow those guidelines can be powerful evidence in a survivor's case. In recent years, a number of large youth-serving and religious institutions have faced a broad reckoning over historical abuse and the failures that enabled it—underscoring how institutional accountability, not just individual wrongdoing, is at the heart of these cases.
Investigating what an organization knew, what policies it had, and whether it followed them is exactly the work we do.
Who May Be Held Responsible?
Depending on the facts, responsibility may extend to:
- The youth organization itself, including local chapters and national bodies, for their policies, screening, supervision, and response.
- Religious institutions and their governing bodies, where applicable.
- Sports leagues, clubs, and governing organizations.
- Camps and the entities that operate them.
- Supervisors and leaders, where their decisions or inaction contributed to the harm.
- The individual abuser.
Because youth organizations often involve layered structures—local units, regional bodies, and national organizations—identifying every responsible party requires careful investigation. That work can also be important to ensuring there are resources available to compensate survivors.
Sorting out responsibility is our job, not yours. Call 1-800-529-6162 or contact us online for a free, confidential review.
The Lasting Impact on Survivors and Families
Abuse within a trusted organization can cause deep and lasting harm—anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress, difficulty trusting others, and effects that often continue into adulthood. The betrayal of an institution a family believed in can compound that harm. These effects are real and serious, and they deserve to be acknowledged and addressed.
A civil claim can provide resources for therapy and recovery, hold the organization accountable, and help drive the changes that protect other children. We never lose sight of what is truly at stake.
Time Limits and Why You Should Not Assume It Is Too Late
Survivors of youth-organization abuse frequently come forward years or decades later, often as adults. The law increasingly reflects this. While every state has a statute of limitations, many states have expanded their deadlines for childhood sexual abuse, and some have opened temporary "revival" or "lookback" windows allowing older claims to be filed. These laws vary by state and continue to change, and they can differ depending on the type of organization involved.
Because the rules are complex and evolving, the only way to know whether you still have a claim is to ask. Even if you were once told it was too late, the law may now be different.
Don't assume your time has passed. Let us check for you, confidentially and at no cost. Call 1-800-529-6162 or contact us.
Your Privacy and Your Control
Coming forward about abuse within a trusted organization is deeply personal, and survivors often worry about privacy and about losing control of their own story. Protecting both is central to how we work. In many cases, survivors can pursue a claim while protecting their identity—for example, by filing under a pseudonym such as "Jane Doe" or "John Doe," subject to court approval. Your consultation with us is confidential, and you decide how and when to proceed. You are never obligated to do anything you are not ready to do, and you remain in control of the decisions that affect your life. For many survivors, being believed and seeing the organization held accountable matters as much as any financial recovery—and we honor that.
How We Help, and What to Expect
Your first conversation with us is free, confidential, and without pressure. We listen, answer your questions, and explain your options clearly. If we take your case, we handle the investigation—seeking the organization's records, policies, prior complaints, and personnel files to uncover what it knew and when—and we deal with the organization and its lawyers and insurers so you don't have to. We carry the legal burden so you can focus on healing, and you set the pace throughout.
Why Survivors and Families Trust Gilman & Bedigian
We lead with compassion. We are a team of experienced trial attorneys, founded by Charles Gilman and Briggs Bedigian, and we treat every survivor and family with respect, patience, and care for their privacy. We also have the experience and resources to take on large youth organizations, religious institutions, and the national bodies behind them. We have recovered more than $800 million for injured victims and families, and we are known as trial attorneys willing to take powerful institutions to court. Our results include some of the largest medical malpractice and birth injury verdicts in Maryland and Pennsylvania history—among them a $182 million verdict and a $55 million verdict against Johns Hopkins Hospital—demonstrating our ability to stand up to large, well-funded organizations and win. Our work has been recognized by the American Association for Justice, Super Lawyers, and an A-rating from the Better Business Bureau. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome; each case is different and must be evaluated on its own facts.
With offices in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Texas, we handle serious cases nationwide in cooperation with local counsel. And because we work on a contingency-fee basis, there is no fee unless we win your case.
When you are ready, reach out. Call 1-800-529-6162 (answered 24/7) or request a free, confidential consultation.
Frequently Asked Questions About Youth Organization Sexual Abuse
Can I sue a youth organization for abuse that happened in its program?
Possibly. Youth organizations can be held responsible when their negligence—such as inadequate screening, failure to supervise, ignoring reports, or failing to follow child-protection policies—allowed abuse to occur. The organization, not just the individual, is often the focus of a claim.
What if a national organization, not just the local chapter, was involved?
Both may potentially be responsible. Youth organizations often involve local, regional, and national structures, and more than one entity may share responsibility depending on their roles, policies, and what they knew. Identifying every responsible party is part of our investigation.
What is "grooming," and why does it matter to my case?
Grooming describes the pattern by which an abuser builds trust, isolates a child, and tests boundaries over time. It matters because youth-protection policies are specifically designed to interrupt grooming. When an organization ignored warning signs or failed to follow recognized safeguards, that can be evidence of negligence.
The abuse happened decades ago. Can I still do anything?
Possibly. Many states have expanded their deadlines or opened temporary windows for older childhood sexual abuse claims. These laws vary by state and change frequently, so the only way to know is to ask—even if you were told before that it was too late.
Will my name be made public if I come forward?
Not necessarily. In many cases, survivors can pursue a claim while protecting their identity, such as through a pseudonym filing, subject to court approval. Your consultation with us is always confidential.
Can I pursue a civil claim even if there was no criminal case?
Yes. Civil claims are separate from the criminal system and do not require a police report, criminal charges, or a conviction. A civil case can proceed on its own.
How much does it cost to hire an attorney for these cases?
Gilman & Bedigian handles these cases on a contingency-fee basis. There are no upfront costs, and you owe no attorney's fee unless we win your case. Your consultation is free and confidential.
What can a civil claim provide?
Depending on the circumstances, a claim may provide compensation for therapy and counseling, medical costs, the lasting impact on the survivor's life, and pain and suffering—and, in certain cases, punitive damages. It can also hold the organization accountable and help protect other children.
Trusted Programs Should Protect Children. When They Don't, We Hold Them Accountable.
Families place enormous trust in the organizations that serve their children. When that trust is betrayed, and a child is harmed because an organization failed to protect them, survivors and families deserve accountability and the resources to heal. You should not have to take on a large institution alone.
Gilman & Bedigian is here to help. We will listen with compassion, investigate what the organization knew and did, and pursue accountability on your family's behalf. There is no cost to begin, no obligation, and no pressure.
Speak With a Compassionate Attorney Today
- Free, fully confidential consultation
- Survivor- and family-centered, trauma-informed approach
- Experienced trial attorneys who take on large youth and religious organizations
- No fee unless we win your case
When you are ready, contact Gilman & Bedigian. Call 1-800-529-6162 (answered 24/7) or request your free, confidential consultation.
Confidential support is also always available through the National Sexual Assault Hotline (RAINN) at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673), 24/7.
