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is use of names of people who have died or names of living relatives of the child in the victim's presence. Over the course of many weeks, 5-year-old Tyler's story surfaced. Numerous times he referred to "Franklin's mother".

During the custody hearing, the defense attorney cited some of my documentation where Franklin's mother was mentioned. He asked me if I would be surprised to learn that Franklin's mother had been deceased for a number of years. Knowing that underworld, I responded vehemently that the child knew SOMEONE as Franklin's mother as a tactic to make the abuse appear unbelievable. The judge granted full custody to the safe parents.

The first time Tyler relayed other children were present and played the same games, he told me their names. When I conveyed the information to the biological father privately, he indicated the names went with Tyler's young cousins who couldn't possibly have been in the state where the child had been abused. After realizing "Franklin's mother" was a tactic, I was able to ask Tyler if the names he had given me for the other children made to play the games were the same "John and Mary" who were his cousins. He felt safe enough to tell me that they were not and described the differences in detail. This is where knowledge of the predator mindset is critical. The biological father naturally would have questioned the veracity of his son's report of that incident. It made perfect sense following the court hearing.

Child predators use whatever personal information they have on the child to make the victims appear as liars. It's time we started adapting a new strategy for protecting the childrenone that takes into consideration the lewd and shrewd mindset of the predator.

Learn more about this author, Grace Spencer.
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