Horner T M, Guyer M J, Kalter N M
Infancy and Early Childhood Clinic, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 48109-0390.
J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 1993 Sep;32(5):925-31; discussion 931-3. doi: 10.1097/00004583-199309000-00006.
Mental health specialists (N = 48) were surveyed as to (1) their estimates of the likelihood that a 3-year-old child had been sexually molested (as alleged by her mother in the context of a child custody dispute) by her father, and (2) their recommendations, given their estimates, as to child visitation/custody.
Specialists heard a detailed presentation of the court-appointed clinician's findings in this case, which included parent interviews and videotaped child-parent interaction sequences.
The array of estimated likelihoods was extreme despite that all the clinicians heard the same case. Recommendations to the court strongly tended toward restriction of child-father contact, even when estimates of the likelihood of abuse were low.
Courts should be highly cautious in relying on clinical experts in child custody cases entailing allegations of child sexual abuse. Practitioners should be candid with courts concerning the absence of diagnostic precision in such cases.
对48名心理健康专家进行了调查，询问他们：（1）对一名3岁儿童（在抚养权纠纷中其母亲声称）被其父亲性侵犯可能性的估计；（2）根据他们的估计，对孩子探视权/抚养权的建议。
专家们听取了法庭指定的临床医生对该案件调查结果的详细陈述，其中包括对父母的访谈以及儿童与父母互动的录像片段。
尽管所有临床医生听取的是同一案件，但估计的可能性范围却很广。即使对虐待可能性的估计较低，向法庭提出的建议仍强烈倾向于限制孩子与父亲的接触。
在涉及儿童性虐待指控的抚养权案件中，法院在依赖临床专家时应高度谨慎。从业者应就此类案件中缺乏诊断准确性向法院坦诚相告。
