Court Opinion

ID: 9749433
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-27 16:43:09.491842+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:25:48.410631
License: Public Domain

ROWLEY, Judge,
concurring:
I concur in the majority’s decision to reverse the adjudication of dependency but write separately to address aspects of the majority’s decision, involving both analysis and result, in which I respectfully decline to join.
With regard to the analysis of the merits, I am principally concerned with the majority’s apparent rejection of the allegations that A.T., who was six years old during the events in question, engaged in sexual activity with her brother, then age eight, and their male cousins, then ages nine and eight. To clarify my concerns, it is regrettably necessary that those allegations be examined in some detail.
On January 7,1990, the father of A.T. and R.T. murdered the children’s mother. K.J., the children’s maternal aunt, and her husband, J.J., who are the parents of the cousins mentioned above, immediately took A.T. and R.T. into their home. By order of court entered January 22, 1990, the *170children’s aunt and uncle, together with the children’s maternal grandparents, C.H., Sr. and E.R.H., were granted temporary custody and guardianship of the children.
K.J., the children’s aunt, testified that immediately after she took A.T. into her home, A.T. complained that her private area was sore. Examining the area, K.J. observed “[s]ome redness basically” (N.T. at 54). A.T.’s explanation was that “daddy’s belt buckle hurt me” (N.T. at 54). On February 27, 1990, almost two months later, A.T. was examined by Dr. Mary Carrasco, a pediatrician and director of the Family Intervention Center at Children’s Hospital. During an examination of the child’s vaginal area, Dr. Carrasco observed that the hymenal tissue was swollen and reddened. The condition did not appear to be the type of normal irritation that might result from poor hygiene, Dr. Carrasco testified, and it was possible but unlikely that the condition had been caused by masturbation.
According to Dr. Carrasco, when she asked A.T. when she had last been touched in that area, A.T. replied that she thought it had been the previous night. Dr. Carrasco explained that the child’s response was consistent with what she had said when interviewed earlier by Dr. Marcy Gerson, a staff psychologist. A.T. told Dr. Carrasco that her brother and her cousins had touched her in the vaginal area, that both cousins had attempted vaginal intercourse with her, and that one of the cousins had penetrated her rectally. As related by Dr. Carrasco, A.T. had also told Dr. Gerson that such activity had occurred more than once. In Dr. Carrasco’s opinion A.T. had recently been subjected to some sort of touching in the vaginal area. Dr. Carrasco also stated that “I would doubt that there was penetration by an adult size penis, but I cannot tell whether there would have been penetration or irritation of that general area” (N.T. at 21).1
The physical examination also revealed that, in Dr. Carrasco’s opinion, A.T. had been subjected to “long-term, *171chronic ... penetration of the rectal area” (N.T. at 6). It was unlikely that this abuse had ended more than one year ago, Dr. Carrasco testified, because if that had been the case the rectal muscles, the dilation of which was “quite unusual” (N.T. at 6), would have begun to regain normal tone. Dr. Carrasco explained that although she had seen no evidence of recent penetration, the absence of evidence did not mean that such penetration had not occurred. Also noted by Dr. Carrasco was an irregularity of the rectal opening which would have been caused by trauma and which had to have been more than three or four weeks old. Dr. Carrasco offered the opinion that it was possible but highly unlikely that this abuse had only begun in January of that year. She was also of the opinion that the rectal abuse could not have been committed by a pre-pubescent male “[u]nless they were inserting a foreign object, which is not a history we got” (N.T. at 23).
With regard to A.T.’s statements concerning the vaginal touching, Dr. Carrasco testified that “I found her disclosure to be very credible. She was very spontaneous” (N.T. at 30). This was not true, however, with regard to A.T.’s denial that she had ever been subjected to touching in the rectal area; Dr. Carrasco stated that “[s]he said no to me with a perfectly straight face, but I didn’t believe her because of the physical evidence I saw” (N.T. at 41). Dr. Carrasco related the views of other staff members who had interviewed A.T.’s cousins and brother: the cousins were seen as open and well adjusted, and R.T. “vehemently denied” (N.T. at 32) the allegations of sexual abuse.
Tracy Mari, a caseworker for Fayette County Children and Youth Services, testified that on February 27, 1990, she received a report, the source of which she was not permitted to disclose, that A.T. had been subjected to sexual abuse in the home of her aunt and uncle. The report implicated A.T.’s brother and cousins and indicated that A.T. had been touched in her vaginal area the night before. During the course of an interview with Ms. Mari the following day, A.T. gave a description of sexual activity between herself *172and her cousins that was very similar to that given to Dr. Carrasco. A.T. also said that although her brother and her cousins were “stripping and kissing naked” (N.T. at 20), she touched her cousins’ private parts but not her brother’s. A.T. told Ms. Mari that “the incidents occurred alot [sic] of times up in the [cousins’] room ...” (N.T. at 21). She did not say whether force was involved, nor did she specify who had initiated the sexual contact. Ms. Mari also interviewed R.T., who refused to talk about anything related to physical or sexual abuse.
On March 1, 1990, CYS obtained temporary custody of A.T. and R.T., and they were placed in foster care. On March 15, 1990, Ms. Mari interviewed A.T. a second time and was told
[t]hat the sex occurred at her trailer in Smithfield, prior to her mothers’ [sic] death, and not her aunt’s house. She stated that it happened a long time ago when they were little, and not recently. She implicated [her cousins], but not [R.T.]. And she would not go into detail as to what happened.
N.T. at 22-23. When Ms. Mari asked her why she had changed her story, A.T. replied “that she would not be able to go back to her aunt’s house” (N.T. at 23). In Ms. Mari’s opinion A.T. was then under a lot of pressure and “[was] going to say anything that she can to get back [to her aunt’s house]” (N.T. at 10). Ms. Mari expressed the belief that A.T. had been sexually assaulted by an adult and “that she has been engaging in sexual activities with her cousins. I am not sure if she is covering up for her brother because she wants to protect him or not, but I do believe that some type of sexual activities have occurred between the four of them” (N.T. at 37).
Having heard the testimony of Dr. Carrasco and Ms. Mari, as well as that of the maternal aunt, uncle, and grandparents of A.T. and R.T., the trial court reached the following conclusion:
In addition to the unknown perpetrator [of the repeated rectal abuse], we have the known commission of sexual *173acts by and between [the cousins, R.T., and A.T.]. Although [A.T.] has indicated that the only sexual acts occurred by and between these four, Dr. Carrasco’s conclusion was that these three boys could not have inflicted [A.T.’s] rectal injury. Thus, we have competent evidence that sexual activity took place within the [aunt and uncle’s] or [the grandparents’] households, and that the rectal injury, caused by an unknown perpetrator, could have occurred in those households.
Trial Court Opinion at 12. The court also feared that the aunt and uncle would not provide the special services needed by the children, as they had waited seven weeks after learning of the possible sexual abuse of A.T. before having her examined and they did not believe that their sons had engaged in any sexual activity with A.T. These factors led the trial court to conclude that the protection of the children’s well-being required that they remain in the custody of CYS.
In this appeal, the allegations of sexual abuse are addressed by the majority as follows:
The trial court gave great weight to A.T.’s testimony that sexual activity occurred between her and her boy cousins. However, even as related by the trial court, A.T.’s disclosures concerning her abuse have changed many times. Initially, A.T. implicated her brother R.T. and her cousins. Later, she excluded her brother. And then, even later, she disclosed that the sexual behavior occurred a long time ago in her parent’s trailer before her mother’s death. In fact, A.T. explained the source of the redness surrounding her vagina as “daddy’s belt buckle.” Moreover, when A.T.’s cousins were evaluated at Children’s Hospital following A.T.’s examination, they were found to be well-adjusted boys who spoke openly and freely and were assessed as not likely to have committed the abuse perpetrated on A.T. Additionally, medical testimony established that the ages of the two cousins would indicate that they were unable anatomically to have perpetrated the certain acts which constituted the abuse. Finally, at *174oral argument before this court, CYS stated its belief that A.T. suffered the sexual abuse at the hands of her natural father, R.T., Sr.
Majority Opinion at 11-12.
In my view, there are two problems with this analysis. First, it is essential that we distinguish between the types of abuse to which A.T. has been subjected. Although A.T.’s father has apparently been identified as the perpetrator of the severe rectal abuse,2 it is less certain that he was responsible for the vaginal condition seen by Dr. Carrasco when she examined A.T. almost two months after the child had been taken away from her father.
Second, I do not consider A.T.’s disclosures concerning sexual activity with her cousins and/or brother to be so internally inconsistent as to warrant being summarily dismissed. In her conversations with Dr. Carrasco and Ms. Mari, A.T. said that her brother was present during the sexual activity between herself and her cousins. Although she told Dr. Carrasco but not Ms. Mari that her brother had participated in the activity, I question whether the significance of this particular fact would loom as large in the thinking of a six-year-old child as it does in the thinking of the adults who are reviewing her statements. With regard to the inconsistency of time and location, I consider Ms. Mari’s explanation to be entirely reasonable: after A.T. was removed from the home of her aunt and uncle and placed in foster care, she related that the sexual activity had occurred in a more distant time and place because she feared being unable to return to her relatives’ home if she admitted that the activity had taken place there. In addition, as noted earlier, Dr. Carrasco found A.T.’s disclosures concerning the vaginal touching to be “very credible,” and it was *175Ms. Mari’s opinion that “some type of sexual activities have occurred between the four [children].”
The reservations just expressed do not lead me to the conclusion that the trial court’s order should be affirmed. It is important to note that A.T., her brother, and her cousins did not testify. Therefore, the trial court did not have the opportunity to evaluate the credibility of A.T. herself, but instead could only evaluate, secondhand, what A.T. had said to the witnesses who testified at the hearing. In light of this fact, along with the uncertainties inherent in A.T.’s disclosures as related by Dr. Carrasco and Ms. Mari, I join the majority in disagreeing “with the trial court’s finding that clear and convincing evidence exists that A.T.’s abuse occurred while in appellants’ custody, thus leading to a finding of dependency” (Majority Opinion at 11). In my view, however, it would not serve the welfare of A.T. and R.T., who will surely need extensive help in coping with the traumatic events of their recent past, for this Court to conclude that A.T.’s disclosures concerning sexual activity with her brother and cousins are totally unworthy of belief.
I concur in the result reached by the majority insofar as they conclude that the trial court’s adjudication of dependency in regard to A.T. and R.T. must be reversed and the case remanded for a custody proceeding. However, absent any indication that CYS will not discharge the responsibilities entrusted to it, I do not consider it necessary for this Court to advise CYS to update its investigation into the identity of A.T.’s abuser.

. Dr. Carrasco testified in a videotaped deposition. The transcript of her testimony is numbered separately from that of the adjudicatory hearing.

. In their brief on appeal, appellants state that "Angela has subsequently admitted that her father was the adult perpetrator” (Brief for Appellants at vi f). We cannot rely on this statement, of course, as it appears only in the appellate brief and not in the original record. Commonwealth v. Young, 456 Pa. 102, 115, 317 A.2d 258, 264 (1974).