The New York Child Victims Act
in 2026: Where Things Stand

The Child Victims Act (CVA), signed by Governor Cuomo on February 14, 2019, was the most consequential childhood-sexual-abuse statutory reform in New York history. The CVA (1) extended the criminal statute of limitations for many sex crimes against children, (2) extended the civil statute of limitations to age 55 for survivors of childhood sexual abuse, and (3) opened a one-year revival window during which any survivor — regardless of how long ago the abuse occurred — could bring civil claims that had previously been time-barred. The revival window opened August 14, 2019 and was extended twice during the COVID-19 pandemic; it closed on August 14, 2021, having generated approximately 11,000 filed claims against institutions including the Catholic Church, the Boy Scouts of America, the Diocese of Rockville Centre, and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn.

The original CVA revival window closed August 14, 2021. However, the Adult Survivors Act (ASA), signed May 24, 2022, created a separate one-year revival window for adult sexual assault survivors that opened November 24, 2022 and closed November 24, 2023. Both windows have now closed for new filings, but the CVA's extended SOL (to age 55) still applies to any survivor whose abuse occurred while they were under 18. As of May 2026, several legislative proposals would extend the CVA SOL further or create a second revival window for childhood survivors who missed the first; we track those proposals in the status section below.

In May 2026, the Archdiocese of New York reached a global settlement valued at approximately $800 million resolving the largest single cluster of CVA-revival-window claims filed against any institutional defendant in the country. The settlement covers thousands of claims spanning decades of alleged abuse by clergy and other Archdiocese personnel. It follows similar global settlements by other NY dioceses — including the Diocese of Rockville Centre (Long Island; emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2024 with a structured-settlement plan), the Diocese of Brooklyn (settlement approved 2023), the Diocese of Buffalo (Chapter 11 reorganization), and the Diocese of Rochester. The Archdiocese of NY settlement marks effectively the final major archdiocese-level resolution from the CVA revival window.

If the abuse occurred while you were under 18, you have until your 55th birthday under CVA's extended statute of limitations to file. This applies to civil claims for sexual offenses against children defined in NY Penal Law §§130 (sex offenses), 255 (offenses against the family), and similar statutes. If you have already filed before the revival window closed in August 2021, your case may be in active litigation or in a global settlement allocation process. If you missed the revival window and the abuse occurred long ago (more than ~37 years for older survivors), the extended SOL alone may not give you a window — but proposed legislation may reopen access.

The CVA reformed BOTH civil and criminal statutes of limitations, but they operate independently. The CVA's civil window (revival + extended SOL to age 55) controls when a survivor can file a civil lawsuit for damages. The criminal SOL extensions apply to whether the District Attorney can bring criminal charges. Many CVA-revival civil cases involve abusers who are deceased, retired, or otherwise beyond criminal prosecution — civil liability against the institution (the diocese, the school, the scouting organization) continues even where criminal prosecution is no longer available. The two systems can run in parallel for living, identifiable abusers.

Any institution that employed, supervised, or otherwise had control over an alleged abuser. The institutional-defendant categories most heavily litigated under the CVA revival window have been: religious institutions (Catholic dioceses, Jewish day schools, Protestant denominations); the Boy Scouts of America (filed for Chapter 11 in 2020 partly in response to CVA filings nationally); private schools and boarding schools; foster-care agencies; medical institutions where abuse occurred by hospital staff; and public-school districts (where governmental immunity issues are more complex but not absolute). Liability theories include negligent hiring, negligent supervision, ratification, and various direct-liability theories.

Civil damages in CVA cases generally include: (1) economic damages — medical and mental-health treatment costs (past and future), lost wages from PTSD-related work impairment, loss of earning capacity; (2) non-economic damages — pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life. New York's pure-comparative-negligence framework under CPLR §1411 applies, though the doctrine has limited application against minors (the law generally does not impute fault to children for abuse perpetrated against them). Recovery from institutional defendants depends heavily on the institution's insurance coverage and, in bankruptcy cases (Rockville Centre, Buffalo, Boy Scouts), the structured settlement plan.

Several major NY dioceses filed for Chapter 11 in response to CVA-revival liability. The Diocese of Rockville Centre (Long Island), the Diocese of Buffalo, the Diocese of Syracuse, and the Diocese of Rochester all proceeded through Chapter 11 reorganizations that resulted in structured-settlement plans. If your claim is against one of these dioceses and was timely filed before the revival window closed: (1) your claim is processed through the diocese's bankruptcy proceeding; (2) the bankruptcy court approves a global settlement and distribution plan; (3) recovery is generally a percentage of the diocese's total available insurance and assets, allocated among all timely claimants according to a tier system based on severity, age at time of abuse, and other case-specific factors. Recovery from diocese bankruptcies is typically lower per case than recovery from non-bankrupt institutional defendants.

Three steps. First, confirm whether the extended SOL still gives you a window — if you were under 18 at the time of abuse and are under 55 today, you can still file a civil claim regardless of the revival window's closure. Second, track the 2026 legislative proposals for a second revival window (we update the status section above when bill text moves). Third, if you have already filed and are in active litigation or settlement allocation, monitor the global-settlement process for your institutional defendant — Archdiocese of NY claimants are in the allocation phase as of May 2026. Free, confidential consultations help survivors understand which path applies.

Start with a confidential consultation. CVA civil practice involves specialized counsel because the cases combine personal-injury damages doctrine, statute-of-limitations analysis (revival vs extended SOL), institutional-liability theories (negligent hiring/supervision/ratification), bankruptcy-court allocation procedures (for diocese cases), and significant evidentiary challenges (cases involving abuse decades old). The Law Office of Jason Tenenbaum represents Long Island and NYC survivors and works with co-counsel where institutional expertise is needed. Call (516) 750-0595 or contact us online — all consultations are confidential, no fee unless we recover.