False Abuse Allegations Are a Form of Parental Alienation 

Regardless of Parental Alienation being shunned by the World Health Organization and  extricated from the ICD-11, it’s still recognized by the American Academy of Child and  Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) and American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). And, most family and juvenile court judges across America are aware of this insidious and invisible form of  psychological child abuse, aka Parental Alienation.  

Parental Alienation: Child Abuse Allegations and Hearsay

Not all forms of Parental Alienation are difficult to detect. A parent involved in a  high-conflict divorce, parenting time dispute, and/or child custody battle can allege the opposing parent is sexually or physically abusing their child with no medical or physical evidence, or has committed domestic violence, and enlist the help of governmental agents such as Child Protective Services (CPS), Child Advocacy Center (CAC) and the Authorities to conduct a joint  investigation. In law, there are multiple exceptions to the Hearsay Rule which afford a Judge discretion to admit such out of court statements by children or adults into evidence and onto a Court Record. A few of those exceptions are the excited utterances of a child who has been  purportedly sexually abused, and another is when a child discloses to a medical/mental health  provider that s/he can has been abused.  

Make no mistake. An overt not occult abuse allegation and something as heinous and  reprehensible as one allegedly perpetrating child sexual abuse, is going to immediately raise the  eyebrows of the Court since the Judge is charged by law to protect the best interest of the child.  The operating maxim of CPS, and sometimes the Court, too, is children do not lie and are not  mistaken about disclosures of sexual assault and must be believed and protected at all costs.  

Most kids do not lie when they report they’ve been sexually or physically abused. But, some do,  and as young as 3.5 years-old. And several children are mistaken or are in error, especially so when making delayed disclosure reports of alleged abuse from 4 years back or more. And CPS  oftentimes doesn’t conduct source monitoring, or doesn’t consider alternate hypotheses. They  are well-meaning and well-intentioned, but sometimes misguided. They may have never  considered a child’s susceptibility to suggestibility or that repeated interviews of the allegedly abused child could trigger schemas and induce adulterated and pseudo-memories in the same.  

The evidence against the accused resides with a credibility shootout in Court. It becomes a case of he said, she said, and what a child said. The child’s belief system, in making their initial report of abuse, and which may have been triggered by an overprotective parent, could be reinforced by a well-intentioned but  misguided psychotherapist in a Sexual Abuse Treatment Program (SATP). In other words, it’s possible the child’s therapist may have treated and reinforced a child’s false beliefs without  understanding or knowing there could be iatrogenic ramifications from said RPT, or TF-CBT, or  EMDR therapy.  

False – Unfounded – Indicated Child Abuse Investigative Findings

By and large, statistically speaking, only 5% of all child sexual assault reports that are  investigated by CPS in the USA are false. A definitional distinction between false and unfounded  or unsubstantiated is necessary to illuminate the differences between the two. A false abuse  allegation is one that is made in bad faith with malice aforethought and is premeditated to hurt the falsely accused party. Few States make it a felony to prosecute false abuse accusers and arguendo perhaps more like Florida (F.S. 39.205(9)) should do so. An additional approximate  70% of all child sexual assaults that are investigated by CPS are unsubstantiated, meaning child  protective investigators could not preponderate their investigation findings as same never met the  standard of more evidence than not.  

There exists a gray area within CPS’ policy and training manuals, nationally, known as Indicated, which internally could place the accused in CPS’ statewide registry and database of child abusers. The accused, in order to attempt to compel CPS to redact the Indicated finding, must request through their Attorney, or themselves, an Appeals Hearing before an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ). The burden of proof at said Appeals Hearing before the ALJ is  on the accused by, ironically, a preponderance of the evidence.  

Helpful Tips

If you are a targeted parent and victim of parental alienation as a result of false or unfounded abuse allegations, please consider the following recommendations:  

• • Always place the needs of your child ahead of your own.  
  • Neither vilify nor denigrate the opposing parent or alienator or false accuser in front of your  child.
  • As painful as it may be, foster and nurture the relationship of your child with the opposing parent.
  • Never talk to CPS or the Police without Counsel present.
  • There are few attorneys who specialize in the litigation of false abuse allegations cases and so be  mindful of that when vetting attorneys to represent you in Court.
  • If you do speak to CPS or the Police or any Governmental agent for the State, be courteous, not disrespectful.
  • .Do not wield your child as a pawn, weapon, tool, or messenger in your protracted child custody case.
  • Do not delete your emails, text messages, messages on a parenting app, or posts on social media authored by the opposing parent as they can be used as evidence in Court to help prove or  disprove Parental Alienation.
  • Keep accurate records of by whom, when and how many times your child was informally and  formally (forensically) interviewed

Dean Tong, MSc., CFC is a nationally-known Expert in Court cases involving allegations of  child sexual abuse. A certified forensic consultant and nationally-certified child forensic  interviewer, Tong is the Author of 3 books including Elusive Innocence: Survival Guide for  the Falsely Accused. www.abuse-excuse.com