To the editors:
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Hearty applause is due the four courageous clients of Attorney Hope Keefe, and gratitude to Keefe as well. (“The Law of Incest,” 7/19). These survivors of incest are boldly choosing one newly available and promising avenue of recourse by suing their parents as the perpetrators of the incest in an attempt to hold them accountable legally, as well as emotionally and financially. As a clinical social worker who works with adult survivors of incest in individual and group psychotherapy, I welcomed Florence Hamlish Levinsohn’s article. It is encouraging to see the state of Illinois moving in the right direction by extending the statute of limitations law regarding incest suits. Clearly, this legal option is not right for every survivor. However, the more choices adult survivors have at their command, the more opportunities they gain for taking control of their own lives–an essential right which was stolen from them as children when they were sexually abused.
Shisha Amabel, LCSW
