Getting help after sexual abuse does not have to begin with a lawyer. For many people in Aurora, it begins with someone who will simply listen. Legal options can come later, or not at all. Either path is valid.
Support lines you can reach today
Mutual Ground in Aurora runs a 24-hour sexual violence hotline at 630-897-8383. RAINN is also available at 1-800-656-4673. Both are free, confidential, and open around the clock. You do not have to speak with a lawyer to use them.
When you want to understand your legal options
Some survivors eventually want to know whether a civil claim is possible. In Aurora, it very often is, even when the abuse happened decades ago. You do not need to have reported it to police, and nobody needs to have been convicted.
What governs a claim is your age at the time, who was responsible, and the facts. Whether anyone believed you back then does not decide it. Attorney Ervin Nevitt, a partner at Coplan + Crane, reviews these cases. He holds Illinois bar registration 6319808 and was admitted in 2014.
What makes Aurora cases different
Aurora spans Kane, DuPage, Will, and Kendall counties. Most civil claims are filed in the circuit court of the county where the abuse happened, and claims against the State go to the Illinois Court of Claims.
The city also sits in two dioceses. The Kane County side falls under the Diocese of Rockford, where the Illinois Attorney General's 2023 report named 24 clerics with substantiated child sexual abuse claims. The DuPage, Will, and Kendall County sides fall under the Diocese of Joliet, where the report named 69.
Six school districts serve Aurora, including East Aurora District 131, West Aurora District 129, and Indian Prairie District 204. East Aurora alone has about 12,000 students across 22 sites and is the 13th largest district in Illinois. The district a school sits in decides who the defendant is. For school districts, counties, and the state, the Illinois Tort Immunity Act and special notice requirements apply. It is the first thing to check, and it is easy to get wrong.
Common Questions Around Support and Legal Help
Can I get support without ever filing anything? Yes. Hotlines and support services are there whether or not you contact a lawyer.
If I call a lawyer, do I have to decide right away? No. You can ask what is possible and stop there.
The person who hurt me has died. Does that end things? No. A claim can still proceed against the institution that placed that person in a position of trust.
If you contact us
A question sets nothing in motion. You speak with a person, not a form, and you do not have to describe what happened. We look into which institution had a duty, what it knew, and what records exist, at no cost to you.
We tell you plainly what is possible. If you decide not to proceed, that is the end of it, and what you told us stays confidential. If you proceed, we carry the filings, deadlines, records, and insurers. Steps can be taken to protect your identity in the court record.
Whenever you are ready, call (708) 671-6858 for a free, confidential case review or visit https://survivorsofabuseil.com/sexual-abuse-lawyer-aurora-il//
