Kathryn Kuehnle

In the name of the child : a developmental approach to understanding and helping children of conflicted and violent divorce

PART 1. THE PROBLEM AND THE CHALLENGE 1. The Family Crucible of High-Conflict and Violent Divorce 2. The Prism and Prison of the Child PART II. THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN AND YOUTH IN HIGH-CONFLICT FAMILIES 3. Infants and Toddlers: Problems in Separation-Individuation 4. Preschoolers: Separation, Gender, and Sexualized Anxiety 5. School-Age Children: the Struggle to Feel Lovable, Good, and Competent.

Police-Reporting Behavior and Victim-Police Interactions as Described by Women in a Domestic Violence Shelter

Previous research has addressed the motivations of domestic violence victims to contact police and police responses to domestic violence calls. In a study of 498 women who entered a battered womens shelter, a questionnaire was used to elicit types of abuse they experienced, police contact, and police-victim interactions. Approximately 58% of victims called the police in response to physical, emotional, and other forms of domestic abuse; however, less than one fourth of the batterers were arrested. Batterers who physically abused their victims or used other forms of abuse such as sexual abuse or stalking were more frequently arrested compared to those batterers who used emotional abuse. The women arrested for domestic violence felt that they had acted in self-defense. These results suggest that the police response to domestic violence is variable and the majority of batterers, regardless of type of abuse, may not be receiving any legal or therapeutic intervention.

Child sexual abuse evaluations: the scientist-practitioner model

The scientist-practitioner model is presented as a format for conducting child sexual abuse evaluations. This model bases conclusions on empirically established relationships between data and the behavior of interest, rather than on subjective opinions. Using empirically derived evidence, the scientist-practitioner defines child sexual abuse as a life event rather than a clinical syndrome, relies on base rates of behavior for distinguishing and understanding differences between nonsexually abused and sexually abused children, and considers issues of instrument sensitivity and specificity when utilizing assessment tools in child sexual abuse evaluations. This model enlists safeguards to keep the evaluator from inappropriately forming cause and effect associations between a childs single response (e.g., behavioral and emotional symptoms, interactions with anatomically detailed dolls, drawing genitalia) and the occurrence of an event (e.g., sexual abuse).

Incorporating the Principles of Scientifically Based Child Interviews into Family Law Cases

Abstract In recent years, scientific work has been directed toward the evaluation of suspected sexually abused children. While in many ways this remains a controversial area, sound evidence has emerged regarding how children should be interviewed in order to enhance their ability to report their experience and as to avoid contamination of their memory. In this article, the authors take the position that the science is now sufficiently evolved so that such interviewing techniques can be applied to interviewing children in child custody evaluations.

Child Sexual Abuse Suspicions: Treatment Considerations during Investigation.

This article addresses what, if any, psychotherapeutic interventions should be provided to meet the emotional and clinical needs of alleged child victims of sexual abuse while they await judicial determinations from the family, dependency, or criminal courts. The discussion emphasizes that to minimize iatrogenic outcomes, professionals involved in sexual abuse allegation cases should carefully establish and maintain professional role boundaries and take on only one role in a case. Professional roles may include an investigative forensic interviewer, court appointed forensic evaluator, and therapist. Special attention is given to complex issues that arise in child custody cases with allegations of child sexual abuse in family court.