Seth Goldstein is a trial consultant, expert witness, author, and trial attorney with 42 years of combined experience. This webinar will provide insights into ways to assess and litigate allegations of child sexual abuse arising in the context of child custody matters.
Abused children often suffer repeated risk of or actual sexual abuse when the Family Court system fails them. Too often misconceptions about the nature of sexual abuse in this context cause Family Law child custody cases to produce orders that fail to protect the children.
Allegations of child sexual abuse that arise in the context of custody cases are extremely difficult for professionals and the courts to deal with. Both parents often do things that are counterintuitive making it difficult to determine what actually happened. Hidden biases and/or knowledge deficits distort perceptions of the complaining parent’s claims leading to often discounting the veracity of the abuse report. This increases the potential risk to the child when misinterpreting the offending parent’s actions. When the investigating agencies suffer from misguided beliefs it makes it even more difficult for the Family Court.
With no outward signs of abuse on the child nor any complaint made by that child, the child is often thrust back into or left to remain in a physically and psychologically dangerous environment.