Most civil lawsuits filed over childhood sexual abuse are premised on the legal concept of negligence because most of these lawsuits are filed against negligent third-party organizations, rather than the direct perpetrators of abuse. The doctrine of negligence recognizes that many institutions and individuals, from doctors and daycare centers to schools and church groups, owe children a duty of care, an obligation to protect them from dangerous sexual predators. Negligence is what occurs when one of these organizations or individuals fails to uphold that duty, allowing a sexual abuser to gain access to victims through carelessness, recklessness or misconduct.