Loudoun County Child Protective Services and Sandra Glenney loves pseudoscience, this extends to their belief system and their choice of professional. As mentioned before the incredible amount of research that has been published on interview techniques and suggestibility has been completely ignored by Glenney and CPS. I am not even sure if they are aware of it, more than likely not. If you and your attorney know and understand the issues with the Child Abuse Accommodation Syndrome it will greatly assist you.
The following article written by Dr. Lee Coleman titled “Learning from the McMartin Hoax” details the issues with the Syndrome and its creator Dr. Roland Summit. One of the key components of the Child Abuse Accommodation Syndrome is the mantra “Believe the Children”. A statement from the article is below
“The tapes from this case should be widely studied in that they are the key to understanding how the children could come to sincerely believe things that never happened.”
The tapes from the McMartin case are notorious due to the biased techniques of the interviewer. However, the creator of the Child Abuse Accommodation Syndrome Dr. Roland Summit had this to day about the McMartin children,
“Most influential among those defending the way in which the children were interviewed is psychiatrist Roland Summit. Summit (1986) has written in a Los Angeles Times editorial that the McMartin children were the victims of sexual abuse, that the social worker, Kee MacFarlane, and the Children’s institute International used proper, up to the minute techniques to interview the children, and that the crumbling of the prosecution merely points to weaknesses in the criminal justice system.”
Your battle with CPS is also a contest of science vs pseudoscience. I encourage you to read the article by Dr. Lee Coleman as a guide. CPS social workers are trained heavily in the Child Abuse Accommodation Syndrome but receives absolutely no instruction as far as child suggestibility goes. Become an expert in the area of child suggestibility and you will more than likely be successful. It is critical that you view the interview tape and document all statements made during the interview. You must know all information about the professional that is utilized by Sandra Glenney and CPS.
