Mormon Church Hotline Protected Child Sex Abuser For Seven Years

A policy at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that allegedly told church leaders to call a round the clock “help line” when they identify potential abuse, where they are told not to call police or child welfare officials and to keep the abuse a secret, allowed a father’s known abuse to continue for seven years, the Associated Press reports. Paul Douglas Adams admitted to sexually abusing his daughter to his bishop during counseling. With no intervention, Adams continued to abuse his child for seven years.

Adams’ bishop later told another church leader who also kept the matter secret after consulting with church officials. The church argues they excused from reporting the abuse to police under the state’s so-called clergy-penitent privilege. Adams was finally arrested by Homeland Security agents in 2017 with no help from the church. Families of survivors in another sex abuse case who filed a lawsuit against the church said the hotline is part of a system that can easily be misused by church leaders to divert abuse accusations away from law enforcement and instead to church attorneys who may bury the problem, leaving victims in harm’s way.