"....False accusations of sexual abuse are also increasing although there is disagreement as to the frequency and nature of false claims. However, many professionals believe that false accusations have become a serious problem in vindictive and angry divorce and custody battles. Consequently, such false accusations have received much publicity and there have been many articles about this in the literature (Ash, 1985; Benedek & Schetky, 1985a & b; Bishop & Johnson, 1987a & b; Blush & Ross, 1987; Brant & Sink, 1984; Bresee, Stearns, Bess, & Packer, 1986; Dwyer, 1986; Ekman, 1989; Ferguson, D., 1988; Gardner, 1986 & 1987a; Goldzband & Renshaw, undated; Gordon, 1985; Green, 1986; Green & Schetky, 1988; Hindmarch, 1990; Jones & Seig, 1988; Levine, 1986; Levy, 1989; MacFarlane, 1986; Murphy, 1987; Ross & Blush, 1990; Schaefer & Guyer, 1988; Schuman, 1986; Sink, 1988b; Spiegel, 1986; Thoennes and Pearson (1988a & b); Underwager & Wakefield, 1989; Wakefield & Underwager, 1988; Wakefield & Underwager, 1989; Yates & Musty, 1988).
It is difficult to determine just how often sexual abuse accusations occur in custody and visitation disputes. Theonnes and her colleagues (Thoennes & Pearson 1988a & b; Thoennes & Tjaden, 1990) attempted to get information on the incidence and validity of sexual abuse allegations in divorce and custody cases. They gathered information through telephone interviews and mail surveys from 290 court administrators, judges, custody mediators, and child protection workers throughout the United States. They then conducted 70 in-depth interviews at five sites, and then finally tracked cases of sexual abuse allegations over a six month period from eleven court systems. This latter procedure yielded a pool of 160 cases of sexual abuse allegations.
They report that the initial survey and interviews at the five sites revealed a general consensus that sexual abuse allegations in custody disputes occur in "a small but growing" number of cases (Theonnes & Pearson, 1988a). They estimate that accusations of sexual abuse are found in approximately 2% of contested custody cases (the range across court sites was 1% to 8%). They state that there are approximately one million divorces annually, and of these, about 55% or 550,000 involve minor children. About 15% of these (82,500) result in court involvement due to custody and/or visitation disputes. Their estimate of 2% sexual abuse accusations in 82,500 custody disputes translates into 1,650 cases of sexual abuse accusations annually within the environment of a divorce/custody dispute.
We suspect that this estimate is too low. In addition to nearly 200 cases of sexual abuse allegations in divorce and/or custody disputes in which we have been formally involved, we have informally consulted on many more. We receive two or three calls or letters every week. When presenting this topic at a poster session at the American Psychological Society in June, 1990, three psychologists stopped to talk to us about similar cases. One reported having recently dealt with such a case, another reported a close friend who had this happen, and a third told us that she herself had been falsely accused by her former husband in a nasty custody battle.
Our own experiences cannot be used to estimate a nationwide frequency. Nevertheless, the large number of cases being seen by us and by others who have communicated with us suggests that the actual frequency may be higher than Theonnes and Pearson's estimate. For example, many matrimonial attorneys report that they are now handling more custody cases with sexual abuse allegations (Fisk, 1989).
There is not agreement as to how many of these cases turn out to be false, although most of the estimates range from one-third to four-fifths. Thoennes and her colleagues report that in 33% of the cases in their survey, no abuse was believed to have occurred. Abuse was believed likely in 50% and in 17% no determination could be reached (Thoennes & Pearson 1988a & b; Thoennes & Tjaden, 1990). However, the decision as to whether the abuse was factual was made by custody evaluators and child protection workers rather than by the justice system.
Most professionals believe that the proportion of false allegations of child sexual abuse is highest in divorce and custody disputes. Out of approximately 500 cases in which we have provided expert consultation in the past six years involving sexual abuse accusations, 40% were divorce and custody cases. Of these divorce and custody cases that have been adjudicated, for three-fourths there was no determination of abuse by the legal system. That is, charges were dropped or never filed or the person was acquitted in criminal court, or there was no finding of abuse in family court.
Dwyer (1986) reports similar statistics. She states that 77% of the divorce-linked allegations of sex abuse cases coming to the Human Sexuality Program at the University of Minnesota have turned out to be "hoax" cases. This was based upon the opinion reached by the agency staff that the allegations were not accurate..."
IPT Journal - "Personality Characteristics of Parents Making False Accusations of Sexual Abuse in Custody Disputes"