When they arise in a custody fight, these charges seldom have merit, but they are devastating in
their effect and must be dealt with quickly and aggressively.  Even if a court never finds the accused parent ever did anything wrong, lingering doubt that the charge might have a shred of truth to it, causes judges to severely restrict contact with a child, perhaps requiring that all visitation be supervised for every minute of the visitation.  Even after finding a parent did nothing wrong, "in order to protect the child" judges will sometimes require that all visitation is supervised, or will reduce the amount of visitation allowed with the child.

        And if criminal charges are filed, juries frequently ignore the requirement that guilt must be proven
"beyond a reasonable doubt" and convict if the proof simply establishes that it might have happened, even if the proof is very weak on exactly who did it.  Sometimes juries convict even when the charges are patently ludicrous.

        You might even know that the accusation was just made out of spite during a momentary brief of anger and therefore assume that once your accuser comes to their senses, the charge will be dropped.  The problem is that once these charges are made there is tremendous pressure on everyone to go forward with them, even if they know the charge has no merit.  Investigators will tell the person who made the allegation initially that if the person "drops" the charge, then the prosecuting attorney will prosecute them for filing a report or for failing to protect the child, or that the Department of Children's Services will take their children, or if its a child who made the claim then that if they don't testify against you the court will send them to a foster home.  Once these charges are made it is nearly impossible to get the genie back in the bottle -- the genie must be slayed.

        Charges of neglect or physical abuse are not quite as devastating as charges of sexual abuse, but once charges of any of these three kinds are made, they tend to leave a stench about you that remains in the future with regard to any question related to custody or visitation with the child.

        For all of these reasons it is crucial that you react promptly and completely to such charges, doing
everything possible to show, conclusively, not only that the charges can't be proven, but also that they are malicious and false.

        Under no circumstances should you ignore charges like this or try going into court without an attorney.  The advice when the accusations are true is the same.  You must act immediately.  These things very rarely just "go away", but those charged frequently do -- they go away to prison if their case is not dealt with properly, aggressively, and immediately.  And children are lost forever.  If dealt with properly and quickly, much of this can be avoided.

        I've handled these charges successfully, and have a particular interest in the area and would be happy to talk with you about the facts of your case, but for more information, and before talking with any attorney, I urge you to check the following links: http://www.vix.com/pub/men/falsereport/child.html#What and http://www.accused.com/contents/

        There are very few charges for which a conviction can be more devastating to a person's life -- prison, loss of contact with your own children, possible court imposed limits on any future contact with children, being listed on child sex offender registries that will notify any future neighbors you were convicted, and generally becoming a social outcast for the rest of your life.  During any time in prison the life of a convict doing time for child abuse is also made more difficult both by prison staff and other inmates.

        As with any other charge, you can decide yourself what effort you want to take to defend against it.  You can reassemble and hire the former O.J. Simpson "dream team", or you can hire someone just out of law school who has never dealt with such a case but is willing to work fairly inexpensively because he'd like the experience, or you can defend it properly and fully.  Unfortunately a proper defense is very expensive, often with most of the cost of defense going to expert witnesses and those who can prepare you for trial.

        Juries right now want to believe these charges, and it generally takes a major effort to persuade them you are NOT guilty.  (Yes, the presumption of innocence remains in effect as a legal technicality... but the reality of life is that the judge and the jury and the prosecuting attorney are all going to assume you are guilty as soon as the charge is made, and it generally takes much more for a defendant to win these cases than others.)  A proper defense can easily run $10,000 (and sometimes considerably more, depending on the nature and number of the charges), and while that may well be a lot of money it is a small amount when viewed against the alternative -- conviction.  Yes, a lesser defense may well succeed... but if it fails, you don't get to try over.  Elephant guns are more expensive than .22 caliber revolvers, but then there is a reason for that -- they are designed specially to hunt elephants.  You could bring down an elephant with a .22 caliber revolver, or perhaps a nice deer rifle, but your chances are much better with an elephant gun.

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