title: Substantiation of sexual abuse charges when parents dispute custody or visitation.
abstract: Recent news reports have implied that charges of sexual child abuse during parental separation or divorce are often deliberately falsified. Such a conclusion could be harmful if it biased practitioners faced with such allegations in clinical practice. To investigate this concern, sexual abuse cases in a hospital-based consecutive series and in one author's clinical practice were reviewed. Abuse allegations with and without a concomitant custody or visitation dispute were compared. A custody or visitation dispute occurred in 12 (39%) of 31 sexual abuse complaints lodged against a parent. Allegedly abused children whose parents contested custody or visitation were significantly younger than those for whom custody or visitation was not an issue (5.4 v 7.8 years, P = .02). Sexual abuse allegations were substantiated less frequently when there was concomitant parental conflict (67% v 95%, nonsignificant) but were nevertheless substantiated more than half of the time.
authors: Division of General Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia Child Guidance Clinic.
authors: J E
authors: JE
authors: Paradise
authors: A L
authors: AL
authors: Rostain
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Nathanson
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual; D002655:Child Custody; D002669:Child Welfare; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents; D011446:Prospective Studies