Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) - 3075

Tonight's special guest is Erica Ortiz-Seiffert from Marietta, Georgia, a survivor of childhood sexual abuse by a religious cult that her biological mother was, and still is, a part of. Erica is 38 yrs old now, and was abused beginning as a child of 4 lasting until she was 12 by a member of the clergy. "I was prohibited from saying anything," she says, "for fear that the church/cult would get bad publicity." She was threatened. "My mother fell in line and did anything to protect the church." Erica felt unsafe and wasn't able to trust anyone. "My adolescent years were full of rebellion and self soothing. I put myself in bad situations, always running away from home, trying to escape my hellish reality." She didn't have a bond or relationship with her parents. "To this day I don't have a relationship with my mother, but with my father I'm grateful that we are in each other's lives. I'm estranged from most of my family because we don't see eye to eye." Now she advocates for other victims by raising awareness about the cult itself. It's still operating even though their leader has been convicted of child sex crimes and was given 16 years in prison. But Erica wants more aggressive penalties for CSA and supports an unlimited statute of limitations so people can get justice no matter how much time has passed. She was interviewed for an article in the Atlanta Journal, and a new HBO documentary came out recently about the cult, it's survivors and what is being done to help them. "My hope is to let others know they are not alone."