This comprehensive training, developed by the National Family Violence Law Center at the George Washington University Law School, is designed to equip judges, custody evaluators, and other family court professionals with a thorough understanding of coercive control and its impact on the lives and safety of litigants' children.

Course Objectives:

• Define child sexual abuse, including both contact and non-contact behaviors, and distinguish between intra-familial and extra-familial abuse. 
• Understand the prevalence and patterns of child sexual abuse, including an understanding of current research on who the victims are, acknowledging increased risk to certain populations 
• Understand perpetrator profiles, personalities, characteristics and beliefs that motivate child sexual abuse and the patterns of their offending based on the data. 
• Examine perpetrator tactics, including grooming behaviors and methods of maintaining secrecy. 
• Analyze patterns of children's disclosure, including delays, recantations, and the impact of dissociation on the disclosure process
• Explore parents’ separation on child sexual abuse abuse and disclosure 
• Examine the research on children’s suggestibility and manipulation, and the likelihood of their truthfulness 
• Evaluate research on false allegations and unsubstantiated claims made by adults, both good faith and malicious allegations, in custody contexts. 
• Understand children’s advocacy centers and child forensic interviewers, their trauma-informed protocols, and their benefits to children, litigants and courts 
• Identify common pitfalls that may derail courts’ objective assessment of child sexual abuse allegations, including thinking errors, belief systems and biases, over-reliance on CPS and other systems’ determinations, lack of understanding of disclosure and child and parent behavior, lack of education and training around child sexual abuse, reliance on erroneous expert opinions 
• Develop strategies for more accurate assessment and avoiding these common pitfalls that may lead to risk of harm to children in custody contexts 
• Understand the lifelong impacts of child sexual abuse and the role of the court in preventing retraumatization 
• Apply best practices for a fair and objective assessment process that can better lead to family court decisions that prioritize children’s well-being in custody cases involving allegations of child sexual abuse 

Enroll Now! 

Price: 3.5-hour Asynchronous Training with CCE Credit ($172.00) 3.5-hour Asynchronous Training with CLE credit ($147.00)

Seats

CLE Credits This course is approved for at least 3 CLE credits in Pennsylvania, Colorado, Utah, and Tennessee. You may also be able to receive CLE credits in other jurisdictions, depending on their specific requirements and reciprocity policies. Attorneys licensed in states that recognize CLE credits from Pennsylvania, Colorado, Utah, or Tennessee should verify their state's CLE requirements and self-report credits where applicable. We recommend that attorneys check with their state's CLE regulatory body to confirm acceptance of reciprocity credits. If required, we can provide certificates of attendance, course materials, and/or proof of accreditation by the original accrediting jurisdiction to assist with credit approval.

Note: Purchasing 2 or more seats will create registration codes that can be automatically emailed to participants or manually shared with your team, bench, or whole Bar Association.