Erin's Law was established in 2011 in Illinois requiring schools to educate students and staff about child sexual abuse prevention. The law was championed by Erin Merryn, a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, who began advocating for legislation in 2010. Erin's Law aims to teach children how to identify and report abuse to trusted adults, as statistics show that child sexual abuse is severely underreported. Since 2011, Erin's Law has been passed in 25 additional states and is under consideration in the remaining 24 states.

1. By Beckie Francis

2. Introduction
 Beckie Francis earned her bachelor’s degree in sociology
and anthropology and graduated in 1987 from Colgate
University, where she played varsity basketball. She
subsequently earned a master’s degree in education from
Niagara University. Beckie Francis spent several years
coaching women’s basketball, but, since 2012, she has
devoted herself to community service activities, especially
advocating for the survivors of child abuse.
The statistics are stark and startling. In the United States, a
child is sexually assaulted every six minutes. By the time
they reach 18, a quarter of all girls and a sixth of all boys
will have been sexually assaulted.

3. Erin’s Law
 Only 1 in every 10 such children, though, will ever report their abuse.
Children are routinely taught how to protect themselves in case of fire
or tornado, but until recently, there was no standard by which children
were taught how to protect themselves from sexual abuse.
In 2005, Erin Merryn, a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, began a
campaign to protect other children by speaking at a variety of public
events. In 2010, she started contacting Illinois state legislators, urging
them to enact legislation that would require schools to teach their
students and staff, as well as parents and guardians, how to identify
child sexual abuse. Children, especially, had to be taught to report any
such problems to a trusted adult.
Merryn met with State Senator Tim Bivins in April 2010, and he
became the law’s first sponsor.

4. Conclusion
 She later testified before committees of the Illinois
legislature, and the legislation, known as Erin’s Law in
recognition of its fiercest champion, was passed and signed
into law in February 2011.
Erin’s Law is also the name of the not-for-profit social
welfare organization she established to promote the
legislation in other states. In fact, since Illinois passed
Erin’s Law in 2011, it has entered the books in an additional
25 states and is at some stage of the legislative process in
the remaining 24 states. A more thorough examination of
the law, as well as a list of the states that have not yet
enacted it, is available at www.erinslaw.org.