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  1. #1

    Default Protecting a Child From Sexual Abuse

    My question involves criminal law for the state of: Illinois

    My question involves criminal law for the state of Illinois.

    My stepdaughter was molested by her father when she was under two years old. This happened during January and February of 2008 when he had custody of the child while her mother was in the hospital.

    His own sister turned him in to the DCFS when the child began to act in sexually inappropriate ways, including pulling her diaper down and touching herself whenever her father came home, into the room, etc.

    At the third day of the adjudication hearing the defense lawyer asked for a summary judgement.

    The judged told the state's attorney that she needs some case law to support the state's case that this be adjudicated and set the next court date for early September. The state has been told they need to present case law supporting adjudication when the state's case was built on the testimony of the sister and a DCFS worker that the child acted in inappropriate sexualized ways after going into her fathers care.

    The child was too young to speak for herself other than through her actions. Does anyone know of any case law that could help?

    Basically, there was no medical evidence of molestation. The only evidence has been the testimony about the child's (changed) behavior after going into her father's care.

  2. #2

    Default Re: Protect a Child

    Was a forensic interview of the child conducted by a clinician (not a CPS worker, unless that person were a licensed psychologist, which most aren't) trained in this specialty area - and was that interview conducted at the very beginning of the investigation? THAT person would be the one to provide expert testimony related to the child's behavior that the child is unable to give. However, if that interview occurred after other people without such training had done so, it becomes problematic as the defense has an open door to argue that the child was influenced.

    Do you have the EXACT wording of the judge's reference to the request for case law? Without it the information given is too vague to attempt any meaningful response.

  3. #3
    Join Date
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    Default Re: Protect a Child

    It sounds like the sister saw something reported it to the police and/or protective services, and the prosecution is attempting to proceed based upon (a) the sister's testimony of what she saw and (b) the social worker's interpretation of the sister's statements.

    It's my interpretation of what was posted that the child was preverbal, such that either no forensic interview was conducted or an interview was attempted but proved impossible.

    It isn't clear what the judge has requested - I suspect that he's looking at a hearsay exception that permits the social worker to repeat and extrapolate upon statements and behaviors she observes, but that he's having difficulty bridging the gap such that she can do the same with statements and behaviors that somebody else has described to her. Clarification would be helpful, but it's possible that this is a quest for case law that does not exist.

  4. #4

    Default Re: Protecting a Child From Sexual Abuse

    That's kind of what I was thinking too. While there might be a lot of exceptions to the heresay rules, it's sounding to me like what is trying to get into testimony is heresay of heresay, which of course complicates things exponentially.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
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    14

    Default Re: Protecting a Child From Sexual Abuse

    We went through this earlier this year. We were told they won't do a forensic interview until the child is 3, and since there wasn't any physical evidence, everything was dismissed. We couldn't even tell the judge what the child said because it was considered hearsay.

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