April is recognized as National Child Abuse Prevention Month to create awareness of physical, sexual, or emotional abuse as well as the many forms of neglect. Last year, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) released a video that cites that 1 in 7 children are abused. However, they believe this statistic may be skewed due to a lack of reported cases.

As you will know if you have visited my website or read my book, He Said, She S.A.I.D (Sexual Allegations in Divorce) …And Then He Went to Jail, I was falsely accused of sexually assaulting my own children and then imprisoned for crimes that I did not commit. This wrongful accusation led to many tumultuous years for my family. My life was upended.

However, I believe the most heavily impacted were my children.

From the first time I was arrested in front of my son, Lucas, nothing was the same for my children because of the tactics my ex-wife pursued by her lawyer.

As I share in my book, my children were incredibly young when I was accused, charged, arrested, and incarcerated. Despite all my knowledge as a lawyer, I was unable to protect myself or my children from this terrible situation. They experienced things that no child should have to endure, including physical exams and graphic conversations. My children suffered from instilled false recovered memory syndrome, which occurred because they were told they were sexually abused, when in fact, they were not.

My family has had an incredibly hard journey. I continue to work hard to repair my relationships with my children and I am grateful for the progress we have made so far. As a way of turning tragedy into something positive, I am putting what knowledge I have learned out into the world in the hopes that it will help another family. With my children’s support, I made the decision to write my book and am providing education and resources relevant to my experiences.

In my book, I share documents from my court case as well as suggestions I believe will help move Virginia in the right direction regarding criminal justice reform.

I have also developed a portion of my website as a legal guide to assist others going through their own cases which can be accessed here: Legal Guide

I am a firm believer that knowledge is power and that, no matter the age, we should continue to learn. If you are interested in purchasing my book, please visit my website, www.hesaidshesaidbook.com, and you will receive 20% off if you purchase before May 15th!

And in conjunction with National Child Abuse Prevention Month, my hope is that anyone who is suffering will reach out for help. A great place to start is: