In re N.C. CA1/3

I. BACKGROUND

As noted in our prior opinions, much of the planning in the cases was deferred pending receipt of a custody and sexual abuse evaluation conducted by Dr. Jacqueline Singer, as ordered in the parents’ divorce case. The court received Singer’s report after the six-month review hearing, and admitted it into evidence at the November interim review. Dr. Singer could not definitively determine whether D.C. (Father) sexually abused the Twins as Mother has alleged. She found it “impossible to say that because the girls appear happy at their father’s home, and are doing well in school that [Father] is not molesting them,” and it was “possible that molest continues, though [the] girls have made no reports and are not exhibiting any troubling behavior.” However, Dr. Singer thought that it was “equally, and more likely, that molest is not occurring, the children are happy and that accusations have stopped because the only contact mother has with them is closely monitored. It is noteworthy that since her visits have been at CPS, no additional allegations have been made.” Singer recommended that Father have sole legal and physical custody of the Twins. Singer had “concerns about…