Representing Child Crime Victims
Testifying before the United States Congress
Today children are interacting and becoming integrated with national and international society in ways which are unprecedented in world history. Consider that just a decade ago there was no instant messaging, MySpace, YouTube or the wide adoption of cell phones. Consider that just as modern Western societies have permitted a free flow of people and goods internationally, they have also enabled and facilitated legal and illegal child trafficking, the commercialization and wide distribution of child pornography and cheap and easy global communication. As never before, children are not only participating in, but in some cases leading the way in this new largely ungoverned and unregulated world, with often tragic consequences.
In 1998 my client, a Russian orphan girl named Mariya Nikolaevna Yashenkova (later re-named Maria Mancuso and now known as Masha Allen) was targeted by an international child pedophile network. Mariya was adopted internationally at age five by a single American man who raped and sexually abused her for six years and exploited her as a “child porn star” with over 400 pictures and videos which are on 80% of the computers of apprehended child pedophiles worldwide. Her image sets are the largest in number and most popular in the history of child pornography, which has only been illegal in the United States for 30 years and remains completely legal in 95 countries in the world.
In late 2005, I was instrumental in enhancing the federal civil legal rights of children who are victims of child pornography. Borrowing from intellectual property law, our firm helped draft, introduce and pass—in just seven months—a comprehensive update to a long-forgotten federal law which gives children the right to sue anyone who produces, distributes or possess their pornographic images. This bill, called Masha’s Law, provides statutory damages of $150,000 for each violation and was incorporated into the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act [Pub.L. 109-248] signed by President Bush on July 27, 2006.
Thanks to our work, child victims of pornography and sexual exploitation have a newly invigorated federal statutory right in every federal district court in the country to pursue their victimizers. No longer will children have to suffer in silence relegated to permanent unseen and unheard victims of this horrible crime. Now everyone who profits from and takes pleasure in these acts will be held accountable not only criminally, but financially.
If you or your child were victims of child pornography, sexual abuse or illegal trafficking, contact me to explore your civil justice options.
A 2008 New York Superlawyer
I am honored by my continuing recognition as a New York SuperLawyer for 2007 and 2008 which places me in the top five percent of attorneys in the New York Metro area. "SuperLawyers" is an annual listing of outstanding lawyers who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. More than 60 practice areas are included. The survey, research, and selection process is performed by Law & Politics which has published "Super Lawyers" since 1990.
A graduate of the University of Michigan Law School and its acclaimed Child Advocacy Law Clinic, I am an experienced trial attorney and frequent commentator and author on legal issues effecting children. I am the founder, former executive director and current board member of the nationally recognized Children’s Law Center in Washington, DC which received the National Association of Counsel for Children’s Outstanding Legal Advocacy Award during my tenure.
I have represented clients in wrongful adoption, civil rights, RICO, Title IX peer-on-peer sexual harassment, §1983, special education, high stakes testing (SAT, ACT, GMAT, GRE, LSAT), child welfare, custody, visitation and paternity proceedings before state and federal trial and appellate courts.
I now largely limit my legal advocacy to victims of wrongful adoption, child trafficking, sexual exploitation and pornography at The Marsh Law Firm PLLC in New York.
I have appeared on CourtTV, CNN, Nancy Grace and The O’Reilly Factor and have been quoted in the Washington Post, Washington Times, Albany Times Union, New York Post, Boston Globe and American Bar Association Journal.
A longtime technology expert, I have spoken on Technology Fundamentals for Attorneys; Document Management: Best Practices and Technology Solutions; and Records Retention Management in the Digital Age: A Key Element in Minimizing Liability.
Boot Camp Betrayal
According to the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO), wilderness therapy
programs, boot camps, and academies and other residential treatment programs for troubled youth are a cesspool of abuse, death and despair.
The GAO uncovered thousands of allegations of abuse, some of which involved death, at residential treatment programs across the country and in American-owned and American-operated facilities abroad between the years 1990 and 2007. During 2005 alone, 33 states reported 1,619 staff members involved in incidents of abuse in residential programs. Read the shocking report here.
In mid-October, U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate allegations of deceptive marketing practices by residential treatment programs for troubled children.
If your child is a victim of a boot camp, wilderness therapy program, academy or residential treatment program, I can help you obtain civil justice. Contact me to explore your options.
Laura A. Dempsey Washington Post Op-Ed on Military Families
Read partner Laura A. Dempsey's recent Washington Post op-ed The Military vs. Marriages.
Since graduating from the University of Michigan Law School in 1996, Laura has practiced as a trial attorney, representing children and parents in child abuse and neglect proceedings in both Washington, DC with The Children’s Law Center and in Manhattan for the Legal Aid Society’s Juvenile Rights Division.
While at the Children’s Law Center, Laura supervised the award-winning Pro Bono Adoption Project. She also served two years as an Assistant District Attorney for Chatham County, Georgia, specializing in child abandonment prosecutions and child support enforcement. In Georgia, Laura created and instituted a program to pursue child support evaders who attempted to hide in federal bankruptcy court. This program led to an increase of thousands of dollars in child support collections in its first year alone.
In 1997, Laura authored an integrated legal and policy manual for Governor Gary Locke’s newly formed Office of the Family and Children’s Ombudsman in Seattle, Washington. She has written analysis and commentary for The Adoption and Child Welfare Law Reporter and assisted James in writing Federal Paternity Law in Disputed Paternity Proceedings by Matthew Bender. Laura was a primary contributer to Masha's Law and practices extensively in the areas of child exploitation and child pornography.
