Diane Umphress appointed to state child sex abuse task force

In the past, victims of child sexual abuse only had a limited amount of time to report the crimes against them. Now, for the next three months, that statute of limitations will be lifted here in Arizona.

Dianne Umphress from Amberly’s Place was recently appointed to the Justice for Victims of Child Sex Abuse Task Force that was created shortly after a new law was passed, extending the number of years a victim can come forward to report sexual abuse to 30 years old.

But until the end of the year, victims of any age can report abuse.

The task force is a group of legislators and those who work first-hand with survivors of sexual abuse to pinpoint changes that can be made to current laws. The task force has until the end of the year to make recommendations on that they think can be improved to protect those who have survived sexual abuse.

Umphress was appointed to the task force by Arizona Governor Doug Ducey .

Amberly’s Place sees a lot of these cases every year.

” I know last month we had 256 victims come through Amberly’s place. There were 35 of those that were child sex abuse victims. In one month think about that and then there were 68 secondary victims, ” said Dianne Umphress .

Secondary victims are those who are also negatively impacted by the event.

In the coming weeks, the task force will make it’s way to Yuma to hold a town hall to educate those who have survived sexual abuse about their options.

KYMA 2019