A family is suing their church after their three-year-old son was sexually assaulted by a teenage volunteer during Sunday School.
The family had left their son at Sunday School during worship when he was raped by a male teenage volunteer in a bathroom of Fellowship Bible Church, Williamson County on August 24, 2014, according to a lawsuit filed on Monday.
The family were long term members of the church, the parents having been both baptised and married there. When they communicated their concern to Fellowship Bible Church, the church initially suggested the child had made it up.
After the church "sought to hide the truth about the perpetrator paedophile and about the rape of [the 3-year-old] from other families" and asked the family not to seek legal action, the family have taken the church to court for the negligent failure to provide a safe environment for a child.
The lawsuit alleges that the church failed to install adequate security measures and did not screen or train its staff and volunteers sufficiently.
The teenager pleaded guilty for aggravated sexual battery.
The family learnt of the abuse a week after it happened when their son did not want to go back to church and they asked questions.
"We want justice for this family." Kathryn Barnett of Morgan & Morgan, the firm representing the family told News Channel 5, "but also we want to make sure that every child at this church and every church is safe."
"It's not okay to wait until a child is raped before you start to take youth protection seriously," Barnett said.
Fellowship Bible Church is a non-denominational church in Tennessee.
