Series Overview

Allegations of child sexual abuse (CSA) raise complex, high-stakes issues in child custody evaluations with significant implications for child safety, parenting arrangements, and family functioning. When CSA concerns are present, evaluators must exercise careful role definition, maintain appropriate boundaries between forensic and custody-related questions, and integrate information generated across multiple systems with rigor, restraint, and a consistent focus on child safety and judicial usefulness.

This four-part training series is intended for mental health professionals who conduct, or are preparing to conduct, child custody evaluations in matters involving allegations of CSA. It is designed to support evaluators in developing a disciplined framework for defining their role, interpreting forensic information, analyzing non-forensic family data, and translating complex findings into balanced, safety-focused parenting-plan recommendations.

The series begins with the legal and conceptual foundations of CSA-informed custody evaluations, then turns to the interpretation of forensic information, the analysis of non-forensic family and collateral data, and finally the development of risk-informed parenting-plan recommendations. Together, these courses are intended to meet the education and training topics described in California Rule of Court 5.225(d)(4) and others, including child disclosure processes, prevalence in the general population and family law context, traumagenic dynamics of abuse, issues specific to intrafamilial CSA, and approaches to assessing parental protection, boundaries, and caregiving practices.

Go to the IPV/DV Course Hub to view the full 4-course series and see bundle options.

*Each part in this series can be taken as a solo course or as a part of this series.

Course Overview

This course introduces the conceptual and legal foundations of child sexual abuse (CSA)-informed custody evaluations. Participants will review the historical development of CSA investigations, with particular attention to lessons learned from the 1980s and 1990s and how those lessons continue to shape current forensic and family-court practice. The course explains the purpose and limits of a CSA-informed custody evaluation, emphasizing that the evaluator’s role is not to determine whether abuse occurred, but rather to assess how available forensic findings, family dynamics, and child-specific needs should inform parenting-plan recommendations.

Participants will examine the evaluator’s responsibility to gather, interpret, and synthesize information from child welfare, law enforcement, medical, and other forensic sources, while also integrating that information with the broader data typically considered in child custody evaluations. Special attention is given to preserving the distinct value of both forensic and custody-related data so that one does not overshadow or distort the other. The course also reviews California Family Code section 3118 as the governing authority for evaluations involving allegations of serious child sexual abuse, including procedural expectations and report structure. In addition, participants will explore contextual challenges commonly seen in these cases, such as disputed allegations, competing narratives, and claims of parental alienation.

By the end of the course, participants will have a clearer framework for defining their role, maintaining appropriate boundaries, and producing balanced, developmentally informed opinions in high-conflict custody matters involving CSA concerns.

Applicable California Rules of court (Education and training requirements) rule 5.225(d)( 7, 9, 17, 20, 21)