Karen B. v. Clyde M.

Karen B. (plaintiff) and Clyde M. (defendant) were the parents of a five-year-old girl named Mandi. Karen and Clyde shared legal and physical custody of Mandi by a stipulated court order until Karen filed a petition to modify custody, alleging that Mandi had alerted her to sexual abuse by Clyde. Karen had reported to a friend what Mandi had purportedly disclosed to her about Clyde’s sexual abuse, and the friend reported it. As a result of Karen’s allegations and the law guardian’s recommendation, the New York Family Court issued a temporary order making Clyde’s times of physical custody with Mandi supervised. When both the friend and a caseworker spoke with Mandi, Mandi stated how Clyde had abused her. However, when Mandi was interviewed three times by a therapist, Bette Malachowski, who specialized in child sexual abuse and had interviewed around 200 children regarding sexual-abuse allegations, sexual abuse could not be validated. In fact, Mandi stated that she had made up the allegations as a joke as instructed but would not say who had instructed her. A physical examination by Mandi’s pediatrician did not show any signs of abuse. Additionally, Mandi’s reports varied significantly from person to person, and she showed no fear of Clyde and exhibited no cognizance of sexuality, or various other symptoms typically present in children who had been abused and were not fabricating abuse allegations. The department of social services determined that Karen’s allegations were unfounded. However, a few months later, Karen made the allegations again, prompting another report to the child-abuse hotline against Clyde. Mandi was interviewed by a polygraphist, Frank Sack, who indicated that Mandi disclosed abuse. However, Sack acknowledged never having worked with a young child and his awareness of parental-alienation syndrome. Both Malachowski and Mandi’s law guardian believed Karen was engaging in parental alienation so that she could gain sole custody of Mandi.