Little girls lost?

Embraced in family courts across the country, a controversial "syndrome" may be placing abused children at risk | Lynn Vincent

This story contains material that adults should be aware of and children should not. Names

have been changed to protect those who are legally innocent unless or until proven guilty.

Most mothers love to watch videos made of their children when they were small. Barbara Johnston is no exception. But though cheery sailing ships decorate the room where a 1995 video of her daughter Casey was made, Ms. Johnston doesn't enjoy watching it. That's because the film shows Casey describing to a child-abuse investigator what she said her daddy did when he visited her bed at night.

Today, Ms. Johnston is divorced, but she does not have custody of her children. That's because a family-court judge ordered full custody switched to Mr. Johnston after attorneys and psychologists concluded Ms. Johnston had "alienated" the girls from their father by coaching them to lie about sexual abuse. That's also why WORLD is not using the family's real name: Though there are compelling reasons to believe Mr. Johnston did molest the children, both he and the legal system say he did not.