blog | Lane Brown, LLC

Erring on the Side of Caution When Caring for a Survivor of Child Sexual Abuse

While any sexual abuse survivor needs help and understanding during recovery, children can be especially vulnerable after trauma because they can’t always:

Report their symptoms
Ask for what they need
Talk through complex feelings
Identify the source of their troubles

This means that parents and caretakers have to take the time to think through a lot of difficult care decisions. While you don’t want to overwhelm your child with medical visits, counseling sessions, and potentially “triggering” situations, it is important to err on the side of caution before ruling out treatment options. Keep in mind that:

Children often take longer to speak up about sexual abuse.
The doctors and therapists caring for your child need special training and skills.
Physical symptoms and emotional trauma may not always be obvious or apparent.
Careful follow-up care gives your child the best chance to recover fully.
Some children struggle with physical, emotional, and sexual issues into adulthood.

If your child has survived sexual abuse at the hands of a trusted adult at school, work, or play, he or she may struggle with the effects for years to come—and sometimes into adulthood. As a parent, you know you need to put a lot of thought and care into helping your child recover, but it isn’t always easy to know what to do or how to get started. Talking with one of our experienced attorneys can help you understand your legal rights, plan for your child’s long-term care, and give your family the tools it needs to recover from a traumatic event. Learn more today by calling 312-332-1400.

Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse May Struggle With Long-Term Effects

When you find out that your child has been sexually abused, the priority is obviously on their immediate needs for treatment and care. However, don’t let their long-term recovery fall by the wayside. Survivors of childhood sexual abuse often deal with significant problems related to the abuse for many years afterward, and they may need ongoing counseling and other kinds of professional support as they develop into teens and young adults. Making sure that they have access to the medical and emotional support they need in the years to come can have a positive impact on their development and contribute to a healthy recovery.

Long-Term Therapy May Be Necessary for Children Who Have Experienced Sexual Abuse

After the immediate medical and emotional needs of your child have been addressed, it’s time to start thinking about how the sexual abuse may follow them into adulthood and what can be done to ease their recovery over time. The effects of abuse can interfere with a child’s social development, emotional wellbeing, and performance at school or work well into adulthood, and these long-term issues often include:

Depression, anxiety, and self-worth issues
Persistent feelings of guilt, blame, and shame
Body image and eating disorders
Problems in family, friend, and love relationships
Sexual issues

Abusers who prey on the children in schools, churches, day care, and youth-serving organizations should be held responsible for the unthinkable harm they have done to the lives of innocent children. If you have questions about helping your child recover or about your family’s rights, please don’t hesitate to give our law office a call at 312-332-1400 for free and confidential help with your concerns.

You Shouldn’t Feel Guilty About Asking for a Fair Outcome After a Truck Accident

Sometimes, it’s pressure from the insurance company that is making you feel a little guilty—or even accusations that you did something wrong before, during, or after the truck wreck that should reduce the amount of your claim. Sometimes, it’s just the shock of seeing the true “price tag” on the full extent of your injuries and losses. Either way, you shouldn’t feel guilty about asking for what you legitimately deserve from the insurance company for what you’ve been through because of the accident.

You have a legal right to recover financially when you are hurt because a negligent trucker or trucking company caused an accident. Realize that:

You were hurt because of someone else’s negligence. You didn’t ask to get hurt, and you are suffering life-changing injuries because someone else made a bad decision or didn’t follow through with their responsibilities.
Your injuries could affect you and your family for years to come. The injuries caused by an 18-wheeler or other large, commercial truck are often very serious and disabling. Your injury claim should account for the care you will need over your lifetime because of the accident.
You may have lost more than the cost of your medical bills. A serious truck accident can affect your ability to work, take care of your family, and participate in day-to-day activities. It can also leave you in severe, long-term pain. This is part of the reason why the law allows the victims of truck accidents to recover for less obvious costs, like pain and suffering.

Don’t accept less for the painful experience you’ve been thrown into by a negligent truck driver or trucking company. You can get the help you need to fight for your rights by contacting our law office today at 312-332-1400 or starting an online chat with one of our live operators.

Study Shows That Drivers Are Distracted by More Than Just Calls and Texts

We spend a lot of time talking about some of the most common causes of distracted-driving accidents, like texting or taking calls behind the wheel. But even though cell phones and smartphones are involved in a large number of wrecks, they’re not the only distraction behind the wheel. A recent study was highlighted in the Chicago Tribune—just in time for April’s Distracted Driving Awareness Month—that shows that drivers may be distracted by anything from a quick kiss to guitar practice behind the wheel.

Drivers Admit to All Kinds of Scary Distractions Behind the Wheel

Erie Insurance surveyed approximately 2,000 drivers during an informal, three-day study of distracted driving at the end of February 2015. Although it wasn’t conducted as a scientific study, their results showed that about thirty percent of drivers admitted to taking risks by texting and driving—but smaller percentages of drivers admitted to engaging in a whole range surprising and potentially dangerous distractions while driving, including:

Taking “selfies”
Putting in contact lenses
Dental hygiene, like brushing and flossing
Putting on makeup
Styling hair
Changing drivers while a vehicle is in operation

In fact, Erie Insurance says that simple daydreaming behind the wheel leads to more fatal accidents than any other type of distraction. Remember that you are distracted any time something takes your hands off the wheel, your eyes off the road, or your mind off the task at hand—and any distraction can be a danger to others on the road.

If you or a family member has already been seriously hurt by a distracted or reckless driver, you can get immediate help with your questions today. Read through a free copy of our book, The 8 Steps to Follow After Your Illinois Car Accident, or reach out to our law office directly at 312-332-1400.

Are You Being Informed About the Progress of Your Child’s Sex Abuse Case?

It was very difficult for your family to come forward about a case of child sexual abuse, and you’ve been waiting as patiently as you can for updates about the legal process. If your attorney isn’t keeping you informed about the case, responding to your calls, or explaining the current situation in language you understand, it may be time to start demanding answers. After the trauma of speaking up, silence from a trusted ally can really hurt.

Parents Need Clear Communication From Their Attorneys About Child Sex Abuse Cases

While there isn’t always any new news for your attorney to report, you can’t make decisions for your family or move ahead if you never know what is going on. Child sex abuse cases are both stressful and sensitive, and they can last for many months…sometimes even years. The attorney you work with to help your child through the legal process should understand the difficulty of your family’s experience and always make keeping you informed a priority, including:

What the current status of your family’s case is
What that means for you in simple, straightforward terms
What to expect next from the legal process
What you and your family should be doing or preparing for
What the best-case and worst-case scenarios are in your situation

We understand that it isn’t easy to talk about the sexual abuse of a child or know whom to trust with your concerns. If you need free and confidential answers to your questions, our legal team is ready to speak with you at 312-332-1400.

Insurance Companies Don’t Always Act Reasonably When Working With Truck Accident Victims

You’re angry about how the truck accident happened. You’re in pain from your injuries. You’re worried about how much your medical care costs and how long you’ve been unable to go back to work. Your life feels like a mess, and you’re hardly looking forward to fighting with the insurance company for the compensation you deserve—but you know it’s the only way to hold a negligent company responsible for the accident and get the financial help you need. So you decide you’re just going to put your emotions aside, go through the formal steps, and be as reasonable as possible while you wait for a decision from the insurance company.

Unfortunately, it’s not always enough.

How Insurance Companies’ Unreasonable Behavior Becomes a Weapon Against You

When people get very seriously hurt in accidents with commercial trucks, insurance companies and the trucking companies they work with have a lot to lose. Although it seems to clear to you that the driver or company was to blame for what happened, it’s unlikely that the insurance company will simply pay you the full value of your claim and send you on your way. It’s not fair, but most victims and their families have to fight for the financial help they deserve—and being reasonable is only one part of the burden.

While it’s true that you should always be polite when speaking with representatives of the insurance company or trucking company, you shouldn’t get too comfortable. It is the insurance company’s job to pay you as little as possible for your injury claim. And while you should be realistic and reasonable about what you expect from a claim, you shouldn’t be too quick to accept the first settlement or assume you’re being told the whole story about your rights.

Being polite and doing everything the insurance company wants you to do probably won’t help you get the results you need from a truck accident case. Learn more about your rights and how to protect yourself by contacting our law office at 312-332-1400.