NCJ Number
145809
Journal
Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Volume: 32 Issue: 5 Dated: (September 1993) Pages: 925-931
Date Published
1993
Length
7 pages
Annotation
Mental health specialists were surveyed to obtain their estimates of the likelihood that a 3-year-old child had been sexually molested by her father, as alleged by her mother in the context of a child custody dispute, and their recommendations on child custody and visitation.
Abstract
Three groups of clinicians participated as subjects, including 11 clinical psychologists, 11 social workers, and 26 others (child educators, child development specialists, and health care and mental health professionals serving children). The specialists heard a detailed presentation of the court-appointed clinician's findings in the case which included parent interviews and videotaped child-parent interaction sequences. The array of estimated likelihoods that the child had been sexually molested by her father was extreme, despite the fact that all clinicians heard the same case. Recommendations to the court strongly tended toward restricting child-father contact, even when estimates of the likelihood of abuse were low. The authors believe that courts should be highly cautious in relying on clinical experts in child custody cases involving child sexual abuse allegations and that practitioners should be candid with courts concerning the absence of diagnostic precision in such cases. 27 references and 4 tables