False Allegations of Child Sexual Abuse

1. False Allegations of Child Sexual Abuse L. Dennison Reed, Psy.D.

2. False Allegations of CSA are not necessarily “lies”

3. By definition, “lying” implies a deliberate attempt to deceive • An innocent mistake is not a lie

4. False Allegations sometimes result from Mistaken Beliefs and Inadvertent Leading • Mistaken beliefs may result from a misunderstanding between a young child (preschooler) and those who interviewed the child: • hygiene practices can be mistaken for abuse • “Daddy touched my pee-pee” • Inadvertent leading: concerned adult asks inappropriate questions of a young child: 3 year-old is rubbing her vagina and mother asks “Who taught you to do that?”

5. “Mistaken Beliefs” and “Inadvertent Leading” • Seen most often in cases involving: • Preschoolers • Suspicious or overanxious adults (including parents, investigators, mental health professionals)—some of whom may have unresolved abuse issues) • Interviewers who lack forensic interview skills (and ask leading questions)

6. Mistaken Beliefs andInadvertent Leading • Can result in “false” allegations of CSA • Mistaken beliefs are not “lies” made up by malicious people • Evaluators should be especially alert to the possibility of mistaken beliefs and inadvertent leading in cases involving: • Preschoolers (3-5 years old) • Overanxious/highly suspicious adults • Unskilled interviewers

7. “Unsubstantiated” by DCF does not necessarily mean that abuse did not occur • Child Protective Services often lack the resources to perform adequate, comprehensive evaluations-especially in complex cases • ‘Insufficient information’ accounts for many cases being unsubstantiated (approximately 20-25% of such cases)

8. Facts About False Allegations of Child Sexual Abuse in General • Among preadolescents, false allegations are quite uncommon • It is highly unusual for preadolescents to initiate deliberate fabrications (“lies”) of CSA • Adults and teenagers are more likely to make false allegations, but this is still not common

9. Risk Situations for False Allegations by Children • Children and teens who have a history of sexual abuse and symptoms of PTSD (misinterpretation or deliberate fabrication) • Adolescents (usually females) who: • Fabricate CSA allegations to cover up consensual sexual activity • Fabricate CSA allegations to effect removal from unsatisfactory living arrangements (e.g., foster care) • Have major psychiatric disturbance • Very young children (e.g., age 3-5) who have been influenced by improper questioning by an adult (parent/therapist) to make false allegations or even to believe them. When young children come to mistakenly believe that they were abused, this is an example of ‘source misattribution’—not ‘lying’

10. Risk Situations for False Allegations by Adults • Adults with a history of child sexual abuse and unresolved PTSD symptoms • Adults who are misinformed about “signs” of sexual abuse or who otherwise prematurely presume that the child was sexually abused • Adults (e.g., parents, therapists, forensic interviewers) who improperly question young children in a highly leading fashion

11. Some have argued that allegations of child sexual abuse that come forth amidst divorce/child custody disputes are not only far more likely to be ‘false’ but to be deliberate “fabrications”

12. “Parental Alienation Syndrome”Richard Gardner, MD

13. Dr. Richard Gardner’s claims about CSA Allegations Arising Amidst Custody Litigation • There is an “epidemic” of fabricated child sexual abuse allegations in custody cases because manipulative parents recognize that this is the “atomic bomb” in custody warfare • Parents (typically mother’s) deliberately fabricate the allegations and “brainwash” or otherwise influence their children to make false abuse allegations

14. Dr. Richard Gardner’s claims about CSA Allegations Arising Amidst Custody Litigation • The “vast majority” (over 90%) of such allegations are fabricated and are made by malicious and psychologically disturbed mothers (i.e., paranoid, hysterical or borderline mothers) who set out to “alienate” the child from the father. Appearing in: The Parental Alienation Syndrome and the Differentiation Between Fabricated and Genuine Child Sexual Abuse (1987)

15. The “Parental Alienation Syndrome” has become one of the most common and most effective defense strategies in Child Custody Litigation

16. Basis for Dr. Gardner’s claims about “fabricated” allegations of CSA • No controlled studies or representative samples • Based only on cases referred to Dr. Gardner (primarily by attorneys seeking to discredit the CSA allegations) • Dr. Gardner’s highly subjective criteria for determining which allegations are “fabricated” have come under fire

17. Dr. Gardner’s views about pedophilia in general may shed some light on his views about fabricated sexual abuse allegations

18. Dr. Gardner’s Views on the Universality Of PedophiliaAppearing in Sex Abuse Hysteria (1991) • “I believe that all of us have some pedophilia within us.” • “Each time we conjure up a visual image of the child being sexually abused, we gratify vicariously our own pedophilic impulses. The identification in this image can be with either of the participants, the child or the alleged perpetrator. When one identifies with the ‘victim,’ one is basically saying, “I would like him (her) to do that to me.” When one identifies with the perpetrator, one is basically saying, “I would like to do that with the child.”

19. Incest is the Mother’s FantasyRICHARD A. GARDNER, THE PARENTAL ALIENATION SYNDROME 126 (1992). • In making allegations of sexual abuse, “the mother’s own suppressed and repressed sexual fantasies are projected onto the child and the father.  By visualizing the father having a sexual experience with the child, the mother is satisfying vicariously her own desires to be a recipient of such overtures and activities.”

20. Incest is the Mother’s FaultRICHARD A. GARDNER, SEX ABUSE HYSTERIA: THE SALEM WITCH TRIALS REVISITED 36 (1991) •  “[A] mother who is sexually inhibited may view sexual encounters with loathing.  Consciously or unconsciously she facilitates the father’s turning his sexual attentions to her daughter in order to ‘get him off her back’ (or ‘front,’ as the case may be).  In this way, she avoids involving herself in the ‘disgusting’ activities and yet allows ‘the beast’ to gratify his primitive needs and keeps him ‘tamed’ and out of ‘trouble.’” 

21. Sexual Abuse is the Child’s FaultAppearing in Child Custody Litigation: A Guide for Parents and Mental Health Professionals & True and False Allegations of Child Sex Abuse by Gardner • “By the process of reaction formation [the child] can turn [her incestuous fantasies] into unpleasant ones and thereby assuage the guilt that would be experienced if the child were to accept the fact that sexual activities are what she wants.   Instead of saying, ‘I would love to have some sexual involvement with my father,’ she can say, “I hate having a sexual relationship with my father.”  • “The sexually abused child is generally considered to be the victim, though the child may initiate sexual encounters by ‘seducing’ the adult. If the sexual relationship is discovered, the child is likely to fabricate so that the adultwill be blamed for the initiation.”

22. Dr. Gardner’s Views on the Evolutionary Value of Pedophiliain our Society “Pedophilia serves a procreativepurpose. Although the child can not become pregnant, a child who is drawn into sexual encounters at an early age is likely to become highly sexualized and thus will crave sexual experiences during the prepubertal years. Such a “sexually charged up” child is more likely to transmit his or her genes in his or her progeny at an early age. The younger the survival machine at the time sexual urges appear, the longer will be the span of procreative capacity, and the greater the likelihood that individual will create more survival machines in the next generation.”

23. Facts About CSA Allegations in Custody Cases • Only small minority of contested custody cases involve allegations of child sexual abuse—hardly an “epidemic” • The actual rate of false allegations in custody cases is unknown, but when they do occur they are are not necessarily the result of deliberate fabrication or malice • “Mistaken beliefs” appear to account for many of the false allegations in custody cases

24. Estimated Incidence of True and False Allegations of CSA Arising Amidst Custody or Visitation Disputes STUDYnFALSETRUEUNCERTAIN AFCC (1990) 9,000 33% 50% 17% Canada (2005) 7,672 6% (none by children) No one knows the ‘actual’ incidence of True & False Allegations

25. False Allegations in Custody Dispute Cases • The exact proportion of false allegations arising amidst custody disputes is unknown. • However, there is NOreliable data that supports Gardner’s claim that the “vast majority” of such allegations are ‘false’—let alone deliberate fabricationsbrought forth by malicious and/or ‘crazy’ mothers

26. Factors That Can Contribute to the Occurrence or Discovery of Sexual Abuse During Custody Litigation • Divorce-related “stress”Feelings of rejection by spouse, ‘failure’ at marriage, litigation stressors, increased need for affection, desire to retaliate - all can contribute to the onset or the exacerbation of abuse • Increased opportunity to ABUSE the child The perpetrator may be alone with victim more often, e.g., during ‘visitations’

27. Factors That Can Contribute to the Occurrence or Discovery of Sexual Abuse During Custody Litigation • Increased opportunity for the victim to DISCLOSE the abuse.When the parents are separated and perpetrator no longer lives with the child, he may be less able to enforce secrecy. • Non-offending parent may be more willing to believe that her “ex” is capable of molesting the child.The child may sense that mom is angry at dad and that she is now more receptive to hearing negative things about dad.

28. “The accumulated research and knowledge indicate that children’s failure to report actual sexual abuse constitutes a greater challenge for professionals than false allegations of sexual abuse” Kathleen Coulborn Faller Interviewing Children About Sexual Abuse (2007)

29. “Fantastic Elements” in the Disclosures of Sexually Abused Children

30. FANTASTIC ELEMENTS IN CHILDREN’S DISCLOSURES OF SEXUAL ABUSE(Constance Dalenberg, San Diego Children’s Hospital Study, 1996)

31. The records of 284 3-9 year-olds were reviewed • The abuse allegations were classified with regard to severity of abuse and validity of the allegations: severe or non-severe abuse confirmed or questionable allegations

32. The “severe” abuse group experienced one or more of the following:*the perpetrator was a family member*force of threat or force was used*the abuse was repetitive*intercourse or oral-genital contact occurred

33. In the “confirmed” group: The perpetrator confessed to the crime AND there was medical evidence consistent with the abuse that was alleged In 80% of these cases, there existed other corroboration, e.g., eyewitnesses, sibling making a similar allegation

34. RESULTS OF THE SAN DIEGO STUDY OF FANTASY ELEMENTS: • The presence of fantasy elements related to: 1. Whether abuse was confirmed or questionable 2. The severity of the abuse; 3. The age of the child.

35. FANTASTIC ALLEGATION RATES AMONG CHILDREN 3 TO 9 YEARS OLD Severe Confirmed Severe Questionable (n=52) (n=52) Fantasy: 15%Fantasy: 4% (5 boys/3girls) (2 boys) Nonsevere ConfirmedNonsevere Questionable (n=90) (n=90) Fantasy: 2% Fantasy: 0%

36. EXAMPLES OF FANTASTIC ELEMENTS IN OTHERWISE RELIABLE ACCOUNTS The perpetrator injected poison into his penisbefore penetration. A family of dinosaurs and monstersjoined the sexually abusive father in threatening to eatthe 8 year-old boy.

37. A 7 year-old girl claimed babies were chopped up and eaten during a cult ritual and her mother tried to poison her. [Independently, the girl’s psychotic mother described the same events and admitted trying to poison her daughter.] A 3½-year-old severely abused girl claimed she shother abusive father with a “real gun”and there was “blood all over.”

38. EXAGGERATED VICTIM RESISTANCE OR RETALIATION Several young boys claimed they physically resisted or assaulted their male abuser, i.e., giving him “karate chops,” “beating him up.”

39. EXAGGERATED PERPETRATOR VIOLENCE OR INJURY: The perpetrator destroyed every toy in the house. The perpetrator left a black and blue mark that covered the child’s entire leg. The perp put his penis in the 4 year-old girl’s vagina and it ripped her open from her vagina to her breasts, and things she couldn’t describe fell out of her and she had to put them back in. [She had been severely penetrated]

40. Given the greater preponderance of fantastic elements in the disclosures of ‘confirmed’ victims of severe child sexual abuse, the presence of fantastic elements alone should not be viewed as strong evidence that the other non-fantastic abuse allegations are necessarily ‘false’

41. When screening for child sexual abuse . . . • Be mindful that false denials of abuse are generally far more common than false allegations of abuse • Be mindful of risk factors for false allegations • Be mindful that statistics about false denials and false allegations do not necessarily apply to the case at hand; many cases defy the probabilities (e.g., a false allegation may be made by an 8-year-old in a non-custody-dispute case; a true allegation may be made by a 4-year-old who was questioned improperly and whose parents are involved in a custody dispute, or by a teenage girl who was previously sexually abused and has PTSD