title: Contested issues in the evaluation of child sexual abuse allegations: why consensus on best practice remains elusive.
abstract: This is an introductory article to a special issue of the Journal of Childhood Sexual Abuse that responds to challenges to current forensic evaluation practice found in Kuehnle and Connell's edited volume The Evaluation of Child Sexual Abuse Allegations: A Comprehensive Guide to Assessment and Testimony (2009). This article describes the topics that will be addressed in this issue, summarizes the contents of the Kuehnle and Connell book, and provides a hypothetical case to illustrate potential problems in applying certain perspectives and guidelines offered in the book to actual forensic practice.
authors.affiliation: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. kcfaller@umich.edu
authors.forename: Kathleen Coulborn
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Faller
authors.forename: Mark D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Everson
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005555:Forensic Psychiatry / Q000941:ethics / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity