A survey of 295 child protection workers, law enforcement officers, mental health practitioners, and physicians found that the use of anatomical dolls in child sexual abuse evaluations was widespread although few professionals had specific training in their use. (Author/DB)

This article discusses legal issues relating to expert testimony in child sexual abuse litigation, including when expert testimony is permitted, qualifications of expert witnesses, permissible bases supporting expert testimony, expert testimony on ultimate factual and legal issues, the reasonable certainty standard of expert testimony, and…

Interviews with 154 program administrators, social workers, foster parents, and health care providers in California found that only one county performed routine mental health evaluations of all foster children. Mental health problems were identified by informants as more severe than medical problems among foster children. (Author/DB)

Current approaches for evaluating children for possible sexual abuse are critically analyzed for conceptual integrity and empirical support. Suggestions for future development include the use of indicators of abuse that allow for professional judgment, consideration of the influence of questioning style, and use of peer review. (JDD)

Psychological characteristics of 56 male Colombian street children, aged 7 to 16, were examined using participant observations and results of psychological testing. Results showed the children to be relatively healthy, intelligent, and emotionally intact. An attempt is made to understand these relatively good scores in a cultural context.…

This paper reviews literature on evaluating allegations of child sexual abuse, to determine whether there are systematic and significant differences on psychological tests between sexually abused and nonabused children, and whether these differences are a direct result of sexual abuse or a result of other coexisting factors that might cause…

Clinical evaluations of child molesters include a clinical interview and psychological testing, and sometimes phallometric assessment and polygraphy. The information gathered explains the situational antecedents and offender characteristics that led to the sexual victimization and the amount of risk an individual presents. (JDD)

Assessment of 251 children found a strong positive correlation between having previously told (or not told) someone about sexual abuse and disclosure (or nondisclosure) during the assessment. Results call into question the value of formal assessment in children who have not previously told someone about abuse. The value of a "nonleading" interview…

Evaluation of the Child Dissociative Checklist found it to be a reliable and valid observer report measure of dissociation in children, including sexually abused girls and children with dissociative disorder and with multiple personality disorder. The checklist, which is appended, is intended as a clinical screening instrument and research measure…

This study investigated methods for accurately identifying sexually abused children (n=26), mental health clinic-referred children (n=37), and community children (n=39), ages 6-12. Results suggest limited support for the Louisville Behavior Checklist but caution in using the Emotional Indicator Scoring System for Human Figure Drawings in the…

This paper reviews the literature on projective drawing tests and child sexual abuse, focusing on children's drawings as an associative tool for memory. The use of the event drawing series, which is a series of seven drawings by a child that graphically present the child's thinking about a specific event, is discussed. (JDD)

Nine women imprisoned for fatal child maltreatment were interviewed concerning their perceptions of interactions with their children, pregnancy and childbirth, mother-child separations and reunions, child development, rejection, children's behavior, and prior child abuse. Interpretation of their children as developmentally abnormal and…

Parental compliance to court-ordered assessment was examined in mothers whose children had been removed from the home because of maltreatment. Noncompliant mothers (n=30) tended to be younger, to lead more transient lifestyles, to show a greater degree of antisocial behavior, and to experience more violence in their spousal relationships than…