Abuse Survivor Continues Staunch Advocacy for the Most Vulnerable at Family Compass Benefit

Family Compass is the largest nonprofit in North Texas solely dedicated to the mission of child abuse prevention with the primary purpose of keeping vulnerable children from entering the overburdened child welfare system. The agency engages with children at-risk for abuse and provides their parents with in-home mentoring, education, support, and tools to aid them in becoming stronger and healthier families.

Earlier this year, they held their seventh annual 2025 North Star Luncheon, presented by NBDT, formerly North Dallas Bank and Trust. Co-chairs Bianca Hernandez and Elisabeth McHugh welcomed more than 260 attendees to a local country club in Dallas on April 28, 2025.

They introduced keynote speaker Erin Merryn, an American author, speaker, and child abuse prevention activist. She gathered with longtime Family Compass supporters and area child abuse prevention experts like New Friends New Life Executive Director Bianca Davis and Community Partners of Dallas President/CEO Joanna Clarke.

A survivor of childhood sexual abuse from ages six to eight by a neighbor and ages 11 to 13 by a cousin, Merryn broke her silence at 13 and later channeled her experiences into advocacy. She founded Erin’s Law, the first U.S. law mandating age-appropriate sexual abuse prevention education in public schools, passed in 38 states, Ontario, Canada, and Kerala, India, as of 2023. The federal version, signed by President Obama in 2015, provides funding for such programs.

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Her heartfelt address emphasized the vital work still to be done and how Family Compass bolsters those efforts and continuously raises funds for North Texas’s most vulnerable.

“Look at Family Compass and all of the amazing work they do. I was brought to a children’s advocacy center (CAC), who deal with kids after they disclose abuse. They [Family Compass] do amazing work because they are trying to prevent kids from ending up in an advocacy center; the work that I hoped someone was doing in our schools. Even though my home was safe, obviously other places in my life were not. So, I wish there were more organizations out there – there are 900 CACs across America – and we need 900 Family Compass’ in all of these counties!”

She added, “I would love to help put the prevention in place. And what Family Compass does with these families to prevent them from the harm; from these parents being locked up, leaving them the tools so we don’t have the need as much for CACs because the prevention was put in place. And I love the fact that Family Compass isn’t just working with the kids, but also the adults. It’s so important.”

Merryn has written five books: “Stolen Innocence” (2004), “Living for Today” (2009), “An Unimaginable Act” (2013), “Bailey, No Ordinary Cat” (2019), and “The Diary of a Cat Named Carrot” (2021). She is also a national spokesperson for the National Children’s Alliance. Recognized as Glamour Magazine’s Woman of the Year in 2012 and one of People Magazine’s 15 Women Changing the World in 2014, she has appeared on Oprah, Today, CNN, and other major media outlets. She continues to advocate for child protection, speaking internationally and pushing for Erin’s Law in all 50 states.

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