Understanding Adults Who Sexually Abuse Children

What makes adults who sexually abuse children think and act in the way they do? For many, the answers to these questions are unimaginable but for judges, attorneys, and mental health professionals those answers are critical to the correct assessment of risk and defensible decision making. This presentation aims to dispel some of the common myths that surround the behavior of adult perpetrators and explain how they develop and maintain their deviant sexual arousal to children.

Technology and Evidentiary Issues in Child Custody Cases

Child custody evaluators, attorneys, and judges regularly confront issues regarding the validity and authenticity of information that is provided to them. Increasingly, this information is in the form of a text message, an email, a video, or a digital recording. But with the advancements in technology, how can anyone be sure that the evidence provided is authentic and reliable? This moderated panel discussion will address how child custody evaluators, attorneys, judges, and technology experts confront the issue of authenticity, and the criteria they utilize.

6. Direct and Cross Examination of a Child Custody Forensic Evaluator

This session will utilize short fact patterns and will focus on preparing and conducting a direct and cross examination of a child custody evaluator. Presenters will address evidentiary rulings, qualification of an expert, effective utilization of the child custody report, existing literature and child custody evaluation standards and protocols, electronic evidence, and virtual child custody evaluations.

7. “ Culture Matters” Really? Engaging Cultural Differences When IPV is Present

Using case examples, this highly interactive session will define culture and cultural misinformation in order to explore opportunities, challenges, and strategies for engaging with litigants who are experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV). The first half of the program will focus on a critical redefinition of the term using more current knowledge and debates. The second half will use case examples to develop and integrate an approach that allows for cultural realities but can focus on best outcomes for all.

8. Social Science Research and Child Custody: Is Anything New Under the Sun?

This session summarizes new directions and findings from social science research pertaining to child custody and parenting issues. Research from the past three years will be covered, focusing on hot topics related to resist and refusal dynamics, same sex parenting, overnights, shared/co-parenting, and studies not directly germane – but related to – parenting plans. Studies will be summarized with discussion of the implications for legal practice. Discussion will focus on how the research can be utilized in participants’ own cases, with consultation provided by the speaker as well as participants.

9. How to Improve your Forensic Interviews by Understanding Adults Who Sexually Abuse Children

Both mental health professionals and family law attorneys will, at some point in their career, encounter allegations of child sexual abuse. Understanding how adults who sexually abuse children view the world, and how they present during forensic evaluations will better enable the forensic interviewer to improve their investigative process and will better inform the professionals dealing with these allegations in custody cases.

10. Mental Health Consultation in Child Custody Cases

The presenters will examine the use of mental health experts as consultants and as expert witnesses in family law matters, focusing on ethical and methodological considerations both for attorneys and for mental health professionals. Topics covered will include legal and mental health perspectives on testimonial and non-testimonial consultation services, the mental health professional’s work product review process, and ethical issues involved in offering expert testimony. The presenters will provide resources for consultants and attorneys, and use illustrative material from actual cases.

Consultation Groups

Join your colleagues for informal discussion and consultation on some of the most challenging topics for family law professionals. Bring your question and most difficult cases for expert feedback.

Consultation Groups:

William Bernet, MD, Parent-Child Contact Problems

Sandra Mayberry, Esq., Working with Consultants

Susan Myres, Esq., Practical Solutions to Impossible Situations

Robert Simon, PhD, Making Recommendations Matter

11. Evidentiary Considerations with Mental Health Experts in Child Custody Litigation

Previously offered as session #1

Mental health experts can play a significant role in child custody litigation. Rules of evidence, the reliability and validity of experts’ methods, theories, and opinions; and the relevance and helpfulness of experts’ opinions to the court are some of the critical evidentiary issues that judges, lawyers, and experts must consider in performing their roles. In this interdisciplinary session, the presenters will explore these issues with particular attention to concepts, practices, and theories that are likely to raise evidentiary concerns.

12. Just Say No? Drugs, Alcohol, and Family Court

Previously offered as session #3

This session will focus on how to proceed when substance use issues are present in a child custody case. Due to lack of understanding about addiction, courts often impose conditions and interventions that are contrary to best practices and addiction research. Uninformed court responses can destabilize parent-child relationships, negatively impact co-parenting, and unwittingly harm family systems. Drawing on the latest research and neuroscience, this session will help attorneys, judges, and mental health professionals to set realistic expectations, effectively manage relapse, and implement safeguards to protect children and parents. Practical science-informed tips will also be provided for attorneys, evaluators, clinicians, and experts to use when navigating these challenging cases. children manage stress and trauma, and describe how legal and mental health professionals can be part of the solution, not the problem

13. Developmentally Appropriate Parenting Plans: Stepping It Up When There Are Allegations of Intimate Partner Violence

Previously offered as session #5

Challenging cases often involve allegations of intimate partner violence. Some parents may want to eliminate contact between the children and the other parent. Parents without contact often want it immediately restored. Presenters in this session will discuss parenting plans when contact has been limited due to the allegations of intimate partner violence, including coercive control. Using a developmental framework, a model for stepping up contact based on safety and accountability will be applied to clinical and legal interventions.

14. “Culture Matters” Really? Engaging Cultural Differences When IPV is Present

Previously offered as session #7

Using case examples, this highly interactive session will define culture and cultural misinformation in order to explore opportunities, challenges, and strategies for engaging with litigants who are experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV). The first half of the program will focus on a critical redefinition of the term using more current knowledge and debates. The second half will use case examples to develop and integrate an approach that allows for cultural realities but can focus on best outcomes for all.

15. How to Improve your Forensic Interviews by Understanding Adults Who Sexually Abuse Children

Previously offered as session #9

Both mental health professionals and family law attorneys will, at some point in their career, encounter allegations of child sexual abuse. Understanding how adults who sexually abuse children view the world, and how they present during forensic evaluations will better enable the forensic interviewer to improve their investigative process and will better inform the professionals dealing with these allegations in custody cases.

16. Authentication of Digital Media in Child Custody Cases: Checking the Evidence

Previously offered as session #2

echnology is a significant part of everyday life. Most everyone has an email address, a cell phone, and access to social media. Cell phones are the epicenter of communication – and often primary storage for voicemail, email, text messages, audio, and video recordings and photos. In family court matters, digital evidence is relied upon for a variety of reasons, including as proof of allegations in custody cases. However, not all digital evidence is reliable and not all digital evidence is legitimate. This session will explore important considerations for reviewing and authenticating data that tells a story before relying on it and presenting it to the court.

No Handouts

17. Current Controversies in Understanding and Intervening with Parent-Child Contact Problems

Previously offered as session #4

Interventions are increasingly being court-ordered to address the distress and turmoil that occurs when a child resists or refuses contact with a parent. The complex family dynamics in these cases present enormous challenges to legal and mental health professionals. The controversies surrounding the efficacy and safety of these interventions has reached a fever pitch as evidenced this last year in the passage of Kayden’s Law and the issuance of a joint statement of AFCC and the NCJFCJ. These public policy initiatives take very different approaches to intervention and training in these cases. This session explores these controversies and uses case examples to demonstrate how evidence-informed intervention models can be applied safely and effectively to the spectrum of types of matters involving parent-child contact problems. Presenters will highlight family systems-based interventions and the court’s role in structuring, sequencing and monitoring interventions to optimize progress.

18. Direct and Cross Examination of a Child Custody Forensic Evaluator

Previously offered as session #6

This session will utilize short fact patterns and will focus on preparing and conducting a direct and cross examination of a child custody evaluator. Presenters will address evidentiary rulings, qualification of an expert, effective utilization of the child custody report, existing literature and child custody evaluation standards and protocols, electronic evidence, and virtual child custody evaluations.

19. Social Science Research and Child Custody: Is Anything New Under the Sun?

Previously offered as session #8

This session summarizes new directions and findings from social science research pertaining to child custody and parenting issues. Research from the past three years will be covered, focusing on hot topics related to resist and refusal dynamics, same sex parenting, overnights, shared/co-parenting, and studies not directly germane – but related to – parenting plans. Studies will be summarized with discussion of the implications for legal practice. Discussion will focus on how the research can be utilized in participants’ own cases, with consultation provided by the speaker as well as participants.

20. Mental Health Consultation in Child Custody Cases

Previously offered as session #10

The presenters will examine the use of mental health experts as consultants and as expert witnesses in family law matters, focusing on ethical and methodological considerations both for attorneys and for mental health professionals. Topics covered will include legal and mental health perspectives on testimonial and non-testimonial consultation services, the mental health professional’s work product review process, and ethical issues involved in offering expert testimony. The presenters will provide resources for consultants and attorneys, and use illustrative material from actual cases.