If you have issues viewing or accessing this file contact us at NCJRS.gov. ---~. "'rY,,~.. ;" •.-_.""....""~ if' • Think I Tank 'I Report I Allegations I of I Sexual Abuse I in Child Custody & I Visitation I Situations 1//i, i) b - eJ/- ? I f"lf:J- ,.,' I' ;,1 II .~:.' // :?"I t") I .~ :I~ I The National "Resource Center I ~. on Child Sexual Abuse .. d b I I I -I copyright 1990, by the National Children's Advocacy Center, I Huntsville, AL. Distributed by the National Resource center on Child Sexual Abuse, Alabama Branch, 106 Lincoln st., Huntsville, AL 35801. I Originally recorded and transcribed by Robert E. Stamper, Stamper & Bufford Reporting Service, 112 South Side Square, suite E, I Huntsville, AL 35801 Edited by David W. Lloyd I Printed by Golden Rule printing, Huntsville, AL I This publication was supported by grant 90-CA-1359 from the National center on Child Abuse and Neglect, Office of Human Development services, u.s. Dept. of Health & Human Services. The I opinions expressed herein are those of the National Resource Center on Child Sexual Abuse, but do not necessarily represent the views of the National Center on child Abuse and Neglect, or the Office of Human Development Services, u.s. Dept. of Health & I Human Services. I I I I I .. I I I -------------- --------- I ALLEGATIONS OF CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE I IN CUSTODY AND VISITATION SITUATIONS PAGE I Moderators: Robert E. "Bud" Cramer, Jr., Esq. 1 President, National Resource Center on Child Sexual Abuse I 106 Lincoln st. Huntsville, Alabama Howard Pohl, Esq. 5 I Assistant State's Attorney Chief, Sexual Battery & Child Abuse Unit I Office of the State's Attorney for the 11th Judicial Circuit 1350 N.W. 12th Ave., Suite 500 I Miami, Florida I CYCLE I Presenter: Linda Barker Lowrance 7 I Director of Program Services The National Victim Center 307 west 7th st., suite 1001 I Fort Worth, Texas Respondent: Josephine Bulkley, Esq. 13, 26 Consultant, American Bar Assn. I Center on Children and the Law 1800 M st., NW, suite 300 I Washington, DC Discussants: Mary Froning, Psy.D. 23, 24 5323 Nebraska Ave., NW I Washington, DC Anna Salter, Ph.D. 24, 28 R.R. #2, Box 256 29, 30 I Cornish, Vermont Barbara Bunk,·Ph.D. 24 882 North Colony Rd., #2 I Meriden, Connecticut David Corwin, M.D. 25, 28 I Dept. of Psychiatry 29 Washington University School of Medicine'~ I 4949 Audubon Ave. st. Louis, Missouri I I ---------- -- I PAGE I Howard Pohl, Esq. 26 Richard Ducote, Esq. 27, 28 I Attorney at Law 29 Richard Ducote & Associates ---I 650 Poydras st., suite 2030 New Orleans, Louisiana Sarah Lee King 30 I Mothers' Alliance for the Rights of Children 89 Beaufain st. Charleston, South Carolina I CYCLE II I Presenter: Anna Salter, Ph.D. 30, 37 I R.R. #2, Box 256 42 Cornish, Vermont I Discussants: Howard Pohl, Esq. 37 I 38 Special Agent Donna Pence 38, 40 Tenn. Bureau of Investigation I P. O. Box 100940 Nashville, Tennessee Henry Plum, Esq. 38 I Attorney at Law 2053 Ludington Ave. Wauwatosa, Wisconsin I Sheila Brogna, Esq. 39 Attorney at Law I Children's Law Offices 114 Sansome st., suite 817 San Francisco, California I David Corwin,_ M.D. 40, 42 Richard Ducote, Esq. 40 I Josephine Bulkley, Esq. 40, 41 I Thomas Berg, M.S. 41 Exec. Dir. - Clinical Services National Resource Center on Child Sexual Abuse I 11141 Georgia Ave., suite 310 Wheaton, Maryland I I I I PAGE I CYCLE III Presenter: Henry Plum, Esq. 42, 49 Attorney at Law 50, 56 I 2053 Ludington Ave. Wauwatosa, Wisconsin I Respondent: Richard Ducote, Esq. 49, 57 Attorney at Law 59 Richard Ducote & Associates 650 Poydras st., suite 2030 I New orleans, Louisiana Discussants: Anna Salter, Ph.D. 55, 56 I 57, 58 David Corwin, M.D. 56 I Sheila Brogna, Esq. 58 I Barbara Bunk, Ph.D. 58, 59 Mary Froning, Psy.D. 59 I CYCLE IV I Presenter: Sarah Lee King 60, 73 Mothers' Alliance for the Rights of Children I 89 Beaufain st. Charleston, South Carolina I Respondent: David Corwin, M.D. 64, 72 Dept. of Psychiatry 73, 74 Washington University 75, 81 school of Medicine I 4949 Audubon Ave. st. Louis, Missouri I Discussants: Anna Salter, Ph.D. 71, 72 73, 74 18 I Thomas Berg, M.S. 71, 73 I Mary Froning, Psy.D:· 71, 72 Richard Ducote, Esq. 72, 77 I I -- ------- ---- _.- I ,-,. PAGE I Henry Plum, Esq. 73, 74 80, 81 I Sheila Brogna, Esq. 75, 79 80 -I Special Agent Donna Pence 76 Benjamin Saunders, D.S.W. 77, 78 I Crime Victims Research 80 & Treatment Center Medical University of South Carolina I 171 Ashley Ave. Charleston, South Carolina I Howard Pohl, Esq. 78, 80 Nina Kinney 81 Juneau, Alaska I Appendix A 83 I Appendix B 85 I I I I I I I .. I I I I I MR. CRAMER: Good morning. Let me tell you about the format. The issue in this session is Allegations of Child Abuse in Custody and Visitation situa­ I tions. Each presenter will be given around 20 minutes, reactors around 20 minutes, and then there will be an additional 20 min­ utes for general discussion. The invited observers can make com­ I ments about what they had heard during the two presentations. Then, if there is time within that, we will open it up for com­ I ments from the general audience as well. This is a session where we would like to define the issu$s involved, make some comments, and then perhaps move the agenda from here with recommendations for what to do in the future. A I number of people: presenters, reactors, and invited observers have been involved in this subject matter intensely. Many of you have done things in advance of this meeting that we are aware of. I We attempted to invite people that were already doing things in the field, people that were sitting on top of information, that could impact on our discussion of this subject matter. We looked at the symposium -- the speakers, the APSAC meeting, and the I National Resource center Advisory Meeting. We looked at who we could invite, within the people attending. We thank you for tak­ ing the time to stay over to be here on Saturday; we also thank I you general observers for taking time to be here. Before we begin, I would like to take some time for everyone I to introduce yourself, say a little bit about your experience and your position. We'll will start with you, Sarah. MS. KING: I'm Sarah King. I've been on the receiving I end of the system for about six years. About two years ago I got involved with the court watching groups of parents, protective I- parents, that were going through-the system. MR. CRAMER: Would you tell me a little bi.t about what you I mean by you have been going through -- MS. KING: I would like to, but there is a court case pending, and the parties are gagged by court order. I MR. CRAMER: You have a court case pending very soon; right? I MS. KING: Yes. MR. DUCOTE: Sarah's children were sexually abused by the. I father and it's in the midst of a court battle between the states of Virginia and South Carolina, caught between their two courts and child protective services (CPS). The case involves a rather clear coverup in the protective services system. It's awaiting I trial next week. I I I 2 I MR. CRAMER: Richard, do you represent Sarah in that matter? I MR. DUCOTE: No. MS. KING: He's been a wonderful consultant. I MR. PLUM: I am Henry Plum. My experience is that of a former prosecutor for 14 years in the area of abuse and neglect, I and am now a private attorney. Part of my practice involves guardian ad litem appointments. Many of these cases involve vis­ itation and custody issues. In addition, I serve as a consul­ tant, trainer and I teach at the University of Wisconsin in the I field of Criminal Justice. My experience comes from the court­ room and the classroom. I MS. LOWRANCE: I'm Linda Barker Lowrance. I am direct- or of program services of the National Victims Center. Our cen­ ter represents or administers to 6,500 organizations around the I country that deal with issues of victimization, not necessarily just sexual abuse, but also homicide, assault, child abuse, and a variety of other types of victimization. We became involved in the issue of sexual abuse allegations through custody disputes I when parents began calling us for help. I will go into that fur­ ther later on. I DR. SALTER: I am Anna Salter. I am a clinical psy- chologist. until December I was on the full-time faculty at Dartmouth Medical School in Psychiatry and Pediatrics. I am now in private practice. I have a book out on treating child molest­ I ers and victims and I also have several grants that I am working on in this area: I'm developing a curriculum for training mental health providers on how to treat sex offenders, ~nd I'm also de­ I veloping rebuttal material that can be used to refute those who claim that all children lie. The third grant is to develop a new treatment program which will help physical abuse in families. I DR. CORWIN~ My name is David Corwin. I am a child, adolescent and adult psychiatrist in practice in orinda, californiai .