Trey’s Law: Ending the Silence Around Sexual Abuse

Trey Carlock: The inspiration behind Trey's Law

For decades, survivors of child sexual abuse have faced a painful dilemma: seek justice through civil settlements but agree to remain silent about what happened. In many cases, nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) were used to conceal abuse and protect institutions from public scrutiny rather than protect survivors. Trey’s Law aims to change that.

Trey’s Law is a growing legislative movement that prohibits the use of nondisclosure agreements in civil settlements involving sexual abuse, particularly child sexual abuse and trafficking. The goal is simple but powerful: survivors should never be forced into silence about abuse as a condition of justice. 

The Story Behind the Law

The law is named after Trey Carlock, a survivor who was sexually abused as a child at a summer camp in Missouri. As part of a legal settlement, Trey was required to sign a nondisclosure agreement that prevented him from speaking publicly about the abuse. His family later described the agreement as a form of enforced silence that compounded the harm he experienced. Trey died by suicide in 2019, and his family turned their grief into advocacy, working with lawmakers to ensure other survivors would never be silenced in the same way.

What Trey’s Law Does

Trey’s Law makes any contract provision that prevents someone from disclosing sexual abuse or related facts void and unenforceable. This includes confidentiality clauses in settlement agreements, employment contracts, or other legal arrangements that attempt to restrict a survivor’s ability to speak about abuse.

While financial settlement terms may remain confidential, the underlying facts of abuse cannot be hidden. The legislation also applies retroactively in some states, meaning survivors who were previously silenced by NDAs may now have the freedom to share their experiences.

Why This Matters

For survivors, the ability to speak openly can be an essential part of healing. For communities, transparency helps expose patterns of abuse that might otherwise remain hidden. When survivors are silenced, institutions may continue harmful practices without accountability.

Ending the misuse of NDAs helps:

• Empower survivors to tell their stories without fear of legal retaliation

• Expose patterns of abuse that might affect multiple victims

• Increase institutional accountability

• Strengthen prevention efforts by bringing misconduct into the open

  
  

Several states—including Texas and Missouri—have already enacted versions of Trey’s Law, and advocates are now working to expand these protections nationwide, including at the federal level.

A Step Toward Accountability

At NCSESAME, we believe that silence enables abuse. Policies that protect institutions at the expense of survivors must be replaced with laws that prioritize transparency, accountability, and prevention.

Trey’s Law represents an important shift in public policy: survivors should never be forced to trade their voice for justice.

As more states consider similar legislation, advocates, survivors, and policymakers have an opportunity to ensure that no child’s story is hidden behind a legal contract again.

Learn more about Trey's Law here.