TY  - JOUR
PY  - 1988//
TI  - Substantiation of sexual abuse charges when parents dispute custody or visitation
JO  - Pediatrics
A1  - Nathanson, M.
A1  - Rostain, Anthony L.
A1  - Paradise, J. E.
SP  - 835
EP  - 839
VL  - 81
IS  - 6
N2  - 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.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0031-4005
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/
ID  - ref1
ER  -