Background
In February 2020, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. BSA planned on using the bankruptcy process to establish a fund to compensate tens of thousands of abuse survivors who alleged that they had experienced sexual abuse in connection with scouting. Verus was retained by several law firms to contact and interview their clients and gather the necessary information to complete the Proof of Claim form mandated by the bankruptcy court. This entailed creating an online portal for scheduling appointments, conducting interviews, and collecting data and documentation. All of the information collected through this portal was then synthesized to ultimately file the Proof of Claim forms with the court.
The Challenge
Engaging abuse survivors to participate in the process necessary to establish proof of their claims comes with unique challenges that stem from the abuse itself. Sensitivity to these challenges is paramount for every member of the litigation support team. Among the issues that must be addressed are:
- Emotional Distress: Survivors often experience significant emotional trauma when discussing their experiences. Interviewers must be prepared for reactions including anxiety, fear, anger, shame, sadness, and even dissociation.
- Trust and Safety: Survivors are often hesitant to open up due to a lack of trust in others or fear of not being believed. Establishing a safe, supportive environment and building a rapport is crucial to make someone comfortable enough to share their stories.
- Memory fragmentation: Interviewers must understand that the trauma of sexual abuse often disrupts survivors’ memories, leading to gaps and inconsistencies in their recollections. These are not signs of dishonesty but rather the scars of abuse. Care must be taken to avoid pressuring the survivor to remember specific details and focus instead on context rather than just facts.
- Internalized victim blaming: survivors often internalize societal attitudes that blame victims for the abuse they suffered. Interviewers must be careful to avoid language that could inadvertently perpetuate these feelings.
- Re-traumatization: Discussing past abuse can trigger memories that may result in re-traumatization. Interviewers must be prepared to manage conversations with care, giving survivors control over the pace of the conversation and allowing for breaks if necessary.
All of these factors had to be accounted for in managing a deadline-driven litigation process that required rigorous adherence to timelines and validation of information being collected.
The Solution
Verus carefully considered these sensitivities in designing and staffing a process that would enable us to interview over 6,500 abuse survivors in less than six months from the start of the engagement to the court-imposed deadline.
We began by recruiting a team of highly trained trauma-informed care counselors to staff the call center operations necessary to support the volume of cases involved. We then partnered with a nationally prominent advocacy group that supports sexual abuse survivors to assist with training and ongoing support – in particular to serve as the escalation team to help any survivors who our interviewers suspected may be in crisis. Training in handling the emotional reactions of hearing or reading survivors stories was also an important part of the process – not only for the experienced interviewers, but for everyone who would be involved in the process including administrative support and IT personnel.
We built a secure online portal for claimants to access at their convenience. This portal allowed them to submit information through online forms, schedule an interview with a member of the call center team, or immediately connect with an interviewer if they were ready to talk in the moment. For claimants who needed to take a break from the interview process before it was completed, we developed cadences to reach out and re-engage when they were ready to resume the conversation.
All of the information collected through the portal or during interviews was subject to rigorous quality control reviews by the Verus team as well as lawyers for the claimants, and follow up interviews were scheduled as needed to resolve any questions or information that was still needed to complete a Proof of Claim.
The lawyers representing survivors had real-time access to information as it was gathered, and could track progress of each claim, view upcoming interview schedules, and address questions escalated to them either by the interviewers or the claimants directly.
Metrics
- Disengagement Rate: We measured the disengagement rate to track the number of people that dropped out of the program, aiming to re-engage with them if and when they were open to that.
- Claim Submission Rate: We tracked how many claimants successfully completed interviews, signed Proof of Claims, and filed before the court deadline. This information was available to law firms in real time via our portal.
- Survivor Feedback: It was important to us to garner feedback on our process given the sensitivity of the topic. Numerous claimants expressed gratitude, personally reaching out to thank interviewers for their empathetic and nonjudgmental approach.
- Claimant Engagement: We measured engagement across the total population of claimants to assess the quality of our efforts and our outreach staff.
As a result of these efforts and the carefully designed and executed program, we experienced a very low rate of disengagement. Interviews were completed, Proof of Claims were signed by the survivors and filed with the court before the deadline for the large majority of the claimants involved.
Perhaps the most significant result of this intensive effort was the feedback we received from survivors. Many of them took the extra step of reaching back out to their interviewer to thank them personally for listening and giving them a chance to tell their story without judgment.
Let us Partner with You for Litigation Support That Puts People First
Whether you need secure intake solutions, compliance-driven reporting, or trauma-trained support staff, Verus is your partner for efficiency and success. Contact us today to learn how Verus can streamline your litigation process and enhance claimant engagement.
