In re S.M.
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Opinion
2026 IL App (1st) 250340
SECOND DIVISION February 26, 2026
No. 1-25-0340 _____________________________________________________________________________
IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS FIRST JUDICIAL DISTRICT ______________________________________________________________________________
In re S.M., ) ) Minor-Appellee. ) Appeal from the ) Circuit Court of (The People of the State of Illinois, ) Cook County ) Petitioner-Appellee, ) ) 23 JA 772 v. ) ) Honorable M.M., ) Lisa M. Taylor, ) Judge Presiding Respondent-Appellant). ) _____________________________________________________________________________
JUSTICE ELLIS delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. Presiding Justice Van Tine and Justice McBride concurred in the judgment and opinion.
OPINION
¶1 In August 2023, then seven-year-old S.M. told his grandmother that his mother (M.M.,
whom we identify as “Mother”) had sexually abused him. When interviewed by a forensic
investigator and prompted, S.M. said nothing of this incident, but after he repeated the accusation
to a Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) investigator, he was re-interviewed. At
the second forensic interview, he told the interviewer that Mother sexually abused him.
¶2 Based on that and an unrelated claim that Mother was dating an abusive partner, the State
filed a petition for an adjudication of wardship for S.M. At the adjudication hearing, nearly all
the focus was on S.M.’s allegations that Mother sexually abused him, though there was some No. 1-25-0340
evidence of a single incident of domestic violence that S.M. witnessed. The State’s evidence
consisted of witnesses who spoke with S.M. and videos of his two forensic interviews. But S.M.
himself never testified. The trial court found that Mother sexually abused S.M. and made the
child a ward of the State.
¶3 Though S.M.’s statements were hearsay, the Juvenile Court Act makes a child’s hearsay
statements admissible if they pertain to allegations of abuse or neglect. But supreme court case
law and state law provide that, before those statements can sustain a finding of abuse, one of two
things must happen: (1) the child must testify and be cross-examined or (2) other evidence must
independently corroborate the child’s hearsay accusations. In re A.P., 179 Ill. 2d 184, 199
(1997); 705 ILCS 405/2-18(4)(c) (West 2024).
¶4 Mother appeals, claiming there was no independent evidence that corroborated S.M.’s
hearsay claims. We agree. All the allegedly corroborative evidence came from the same
source—the child. That is not independent corroboration under A.P. or the applicable statute. We
are thus compelled to reverse the portion of the order finding that Mother sexually abused her
son. We vacate the court’s adjudication order, necessarily vacate the court’s judgment at the
dispositional hearing that followed, and remand for further proceedings.
¶5 BACKGROUND
¶6 On October 31, 2023, the State filed a petition for an adjudication of wardship of S.M.,
alleging that Mother had sexually abused him, neglected him because his environment was
injurious to his welfare, and abused him because he was at a substantial risk of injury. The
factual basis for each allegation in the petition read: “On or about September 22, 2023, this
minor [S.M.] participated in a forensic interview during which he disclosed that [Mother] had
inappropriately touched his penis and sexually abused him. In August of 2023, this minor
-2- No. 1-25-0340
disclosed witnessing [Mother] being injured during a domestic altercation between her and her
paramour.”
¶7 The adjudication hearing in this case spanned four days in 2024—one in April, one in
June, and two in October. The State prosecuted the case; S.M.’s father, whom we identify only
as “Father,” was represented by counsel; S.M. was represented by a guardian ad litem (“GAL”).
¶8 The witnesses included S.M.’s paternal grandmother, whom we identify only as
“Grandmother,” who testified to S.M.’s initial outcry on August 7, 2023; two DCFS
investigators, one of whom testified that S.M. said that Mother sexually abused him; and the
forensic interviewer who conducted the victim sensitive interviews, or “VSIs.” Again, while
many of the witnesses testified about what S.M. told them, S.M. himself never testified.
¶9 The case encountered some unavoidable delay. After the State presented its case and
rested on the first day of the hearing, the parties argued over a witness the mother wanted to call.
The court continued the case, but at the next court date, Mother’s attorney, an assistant public
defender, moved to withdraw because the relationship between her and Mother had broken
down. The court granted the continuance.
¶ 10 The case resumed in October, now with new counsel for Mother. Mother presented her
case, in which most witnesses who testified in the State’s case testified again. For ease, in some
instances, we have combined the separate days of their testimony together.
¶ 11 We will say at the outset that we have numerous questions left unanswered by the record.
We will at times point them out as we recite the facts, while they are still fresh in mind.
¶ 12 One of the most significant is worth mentioning at the start: In addition to what he said
about Mother, S.M. also said that he was sexually abused by a boy named Damian, whom S.M.
claims was eight years old (when S.M. was six). The abuse allegations involving Damian are not
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part of the charges against Mother, and we know very little about Damian or what came of these
allegations, if anything. We do not even know if we are spelling Damian’s name correctly; we
are adopting the guess of the court reporter from the hearing. We know of this boy only from
S.M.’s statements to Grandmother and investigators.
¶ 13 As we discuss below, S.M. mentioned two distinct episodes of sexual contact with
Damian in his conversation with Grandmother on August 7, and he mentioned three distinct
episodes of sexual contact with Damian in his second VSI on September 22. It is not clear
whether that makes four or five separate instances of sexual contact with Damian; it is possible
that one of the episodes he related to Grandmother overlapped with one he discussed in the
second VSI. As we will see, the presence of Damian will loom large throughout this case.
¶ 14 I. State’s Case-in-Chief (April Hearing)
¶ 15 A. Outcry to Paternal Grandmother
¶ 16 The State first called Grandmother, who testified that on August 7, 2023, S.M. was
staying with Father and her at Grandmother’s house. S.M. typically lived with Mother, but he
had been staying with Father at Grandmother’s house for a little over a week, since July 29. (As
we will see later, there was a dispute between Mother and Father over how long S.M. was
supposed to stay there.)
¶ 17 According to Grandmother, on that day, August 7, 2023, S.M. told her that he “went to a
friend [sic] house, and he did some inappropriate touching.” When asked to elaborate, she said
that S.M. told her that he “touched his friend in his private area.” When S.M. was telling her
about this incident with Damian, “[h]e was nervous. He was wringing his hands. He was turning
red, and he started to cry.”
¶ 18 Grandmother added that S.M. “just started crying because he was nervous. And he started
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crying.
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2026 IL App (1st) 250340
SECOND DIVISION February 26, 2026
No. 1-25-0340 _____________________________________________________________________________
IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS FIRST JUDICIAL DISTRICT ______________________________________________________________________________
In re S.M., ) ) Minor-Appellee. ) Appeal from the ) Circuit Court of (The People of the State of Illinois, ) Cook County ) Petitioner-Appellee, ) ) 23 JA 772 v. ) ) Honorable M.M., ) Lisa M. Taylor, ) Judge Presiding Respondent-Appellant). ) _____________________________________________________________________________
JUSTICE ELLIS delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. Presiding Justice Van Tine and Justice McBride concurred in the judgment and opinion.
OPINION
¶1 In August 2023, then seven-year-old S.M. told his grandmother that his mother (M.M.,
whom we identify as “Mother”) had sexually abused him. When interviewed by a forensic
investigator and prompted, S.M. said nothing of this incident, but after he repeated the accusation
to a Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) investigator, he was re-interviewed. At
the second forensic interview, he told the interviewer that Mother sexually abused him.
¶2 Based on that and an unrelated claim that Mother was dating an abusive partner, the State
filed a petition for an adjudication of wardship for S.M. At the adjudication hearing, nearly all
the focus was on S.M.’s allegations that Mother sexually abused him, though there was some No. 1-25-0340
evidence of a single incident of domestic violence that S.M. witnessed. The State’s evidence
consisted of witnesses who spoke with S.M. and videos of his two forensic interviews. But S.M.
himself never testified. The trial court found that Mother sexually abused S.M. and made the
child a ward of the State.
¶3 Though S.M.’s statements were hearsay, the Juvenile Court Act makes a child’s hearsay
statements admissible if they pertain to allegations of abuse or neglect. But supreme court case
law and state law provide that, before those statements can sustain a finding of abuse, one of two
things must happen: (1) the child must testify and be cross-examined or (2) other evidence must
independently corroborate the child’s hearsay accusations. In re A.P., 179 Ill. 2d 184, 199
(1997); 705 ILCS 405/2-18(4)(c) (West 2024).
¶4 Mother appeals, claiming there was no independent evidence that corroborated S.M.’s
hearsay claims. We agree. All the allegedly corroborative evidence came from the same
source—the child. That is not independent corroboration under A.P. or the applicable statute. We
are thus compelled to reverse the portion of the order finding that Mother sexually abused her
son. We vacate the court’s adjudication order, necessarily vacate the court’s judgment at the
dispositional hearing that followed, and remand for further proceedings.
¶5 BACKGROUND
¶6 On October 31, 2023, the State filed a petition for an adjudication of wardship of S.M.,
alleging that Mother had sexually abused him, neglected him because his environment was
injurious to his welfare, and abused him because he was at a substantial risk of injury. The
factual basis for each allegation in the petition read: “On or about September 22, 2023, this
minor [S.M.] participated in a forensic interview during which he disclosed that [Mother] had
inappropriately touched his penis and sexually abused him. In August of 2023, this minor
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disclosed witnessing [Mother] being injured during a domestic altercation between her and her
paramour.”
¶7 The adjudication hearing in this case spanned four days in 2024—one in April, one in
June, and two in October. The State prosecuted the case; S.M.’s father, whom we identify only
as “Father,” was represented by counsel; S.M. was represented by a guardian ad litem (“GAL”).
¶8 The witnesses included S.M.’s paternal grandmother, whom we identify only as
“Grandmother,” who testified to S.M.’s initial outcry on August 7, 2023; two DCFS
investigators, one of whom testified that S.M. said that Mother sexually abused him; and the
forensic interviewer who conducted the victim sensitive interviews, or “VSIs.” Again, while
many of the witnesses testified about what S.M. told them, S.M. himself never testified.
¶9 The case encountered some unavoidable delay. After the State presented its case and
rested on the first day of the hearing, the parties argued over a witness the mother wanted to call.
The court continued the case, but at the next court date, Mother’s attorney, an assistant public
defender, moved to withdraw because the relationship between her and Mother had broken
down. The court granted the continuance.
¶ 10 The case resumed in October, now with new counsel for Mother. Mother presented her
case, in which most witnesses who testified in the State’s case testified again. For ease, in some
instances, we have combined the separate days of their testimony together.
¶ 11 We will say at the outset that we have numerous questions left unanswered by the record.
We will at times point them out as we recite the facts, while they are still fresh in mind.
¶ 12 One of the most significant is worth mentioning at the start: In addition to what he said
about Mother, S.M. also said that he was sexually abused by a boy named Damian, whom S.M.
claims was eight years old (when S.M. was six). The abuse allegations involving Damian are not
-3- No. 1-25-0340
part of the charges against Mother, and we know very little about Damian or what came of these
allegations, if anything. We do not even know if we are spelling Damian’s name correctly; we
are adopting the guess of the court reporter from the hearing. We know of this boy only from
S.M.’s statements to Grandmother and investigators.
¶ 13 As we discuss below, S.M. mentioned two distinct episodes of sexual contact with
Damian in his conversation with Grandmother on August 7, and he mentioned three distinct
episodes of sexual contact with Damian in his second VSI on September 22. It is not clear
whether that makes four or five separate instances of sexual contact with Damian; it is possible
that one of the episodes he related to Grandmother overlapped with one he discussed in the
second VSI. As we will see, the presence of Damian will loom large throughout this case.
¶ 14 I. State’s Case-in-Chief (April Hearing)
¶ 15 A. Outcry to Paternal Grandmother
¶ 16 The State first called Grandmother, who testified that on August 7, 2023, S.M. was
staying with Father and her at Grandmother’s house. S.M. typically lived with Mother, but he
had been staying with Father at Grandmother’s house for a little over a week, since July 29. (As
we will see later, there was a dispute between Mother and Father over how long S.M. was
supposed to stay there.)
¶ 17 According to Grandmother, on that day, August 7, 2023, S.M. told her that he “went to a
friend [sic] house, and he did some inappropriate touching.” When asked to elaborate, she said
that S.M. told her that he “touched his friend in his private area.” When S.M. was telling her
about this incident with Damian, “[h]e was nervous. He was wringing his hands. He was turning
red, and he started to cry.”
¶ 18 Grandmother added that S.M. “just started crying because he was nervous. And he started
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crying. And I asked him, like, where did he get this from? You know, I had already explained to
him about good touching and bad touching. We talk about it all the time.”
¶ 19 Present for this conversation between Grandmother and S.M., initially, were Father and
Grandmother’s daughter (Father’s sister). But when Father heard S.M. say that he touched
Damian’s private parts, he left the room. We would later learn that he left the house entirely.
¶ 20 When Grandmother asked him why he would do something like touch Damian in his
private parts, S.M. “stated that his mom said that when he’s emotional about someone, he’s
allowed to do that to them.”
¶ 21 The State then zeroed in on S.M.’s talk of his mother:
“Q: What specific words did he use when he started talking about his mother?
A: *** [H]e said that his friend, Damian, was at his house. And he said that
Damian had touched him in his private area. [S.M.] told him to stop. [S.M.] stated that
Damian shoved him in the closet and punched him. [S.M.] stated his mother came in the
room. When his mom came in the room ***, when she came in the room, she asked him
what was wrong. He stated what had happened with Damian. And that’s when [Mother]
approached him and she told him that it’s okay. She said that when we’re emotional
about people, that we’re allowed to, you know, show our emotions.”
¶ 22 According to Grandmother, S.M. told her that Mother then
“walked him to the bed. She touched him between his legs and touched his penis. He said
that she touched his private. He stated that she told him that she like [sic] it. She
proceeded to lay him down on the bed. She pulled his pants down. She touched him
between his legs. She put his penis in her mouth. She sucked it.”
¶ 23 Mother told S.M. that it was to be their secret. Mother threatened him, saying that if he
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told anyone what happened, he would not be able to see his dad until he was 27 years old.
¶ 24 Grandmother told S.M. she would keep him safe. She went downstairs to find Father;
upon discovering that he had left the house, Grandmother decided to report S.M.’s claims to the
police herself. A police officer arrived. Grandmother was present for the conversation between
S.M. and the police, but the content was not discussed in her testimony. In fact, there was no
further testimony from Grandmother on what she and S.M. discussed that night, or on any other
occasion over the next few months of the investigation, regarding Mother’s sexual abuse.
¶ 25 Grandmother testified that Father and Mother quarreled frequently and had a contentious
relationship. But she generally considered Mother to be like a daughter to her and often took
Mother’s side in the fights. That was the extent of her direct testimony at the April hearing.
¶ 26 This was the cross-examination, in its entirety, of Grandmother, the first person to whom
S.M. made these allegations of sexual abuse, and the person with whom S.M. stayed for over a
month after these allegations emerged:
“Q: About how old was [S.M.] when you spoke to him in August of 2023?
A: 7.
Q: And does [S.M.] have a nickname?
A: Yes.
Q: And what is that nickname?
A: [Redacted].
Q: Thank you. Nothing else.”
¶ 27 B. First Interview with Arroyo
¶ 28 After S.M.’s outcry and the initial investigation, S.M. visited the Chicago Children’s
Advocacy Center (CAC) for a forensic interview with America Arroyo, a trained professional
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forensic interviewer. Her first of two interviews with S.M. took place on August 18, 2023, eleven
days after his outcry to Grandmother. A video of this interview was entered into evidence.
¶ 29 Arroyo, a trained forensic interviewer, testified that when she met with S.M, he acted at
an appropriate level for his age. Only the two of them were in the interview room together,
though members of the investigative team could observe the interview through a one-way mirror.
Arroyo said that it was not her job to make a “professional assessment” of the child or determine
if a child is telling the truth; she only conducts the interview.
¶ 30 In her first interview with S.M., Arroyo told S.M. that her job was to listen to him, and
that S.M. could tell her anything he wanted without getting into trouble. S.M. began by talking
about playing at the park and how he enjoyed playing on the swings. He told her that he lives at
home with Grandmother, but that he used to live with Mother.
¶ 31 When Arroyo asked what might happen when S.M. got in trouble, S.M. told her that he
sometimes would get a “whooping.” After numerous questions trying to get S.M. to elaborate on
what getting a “whooping” meant, S.M. told her that Father would smack him on his back. He
also said that he once got a “whooping” with charger cords.
¶ 32 Arroyo walked S.M. through the rules of the interview. She told him that, when she asks
him a question, he should not guess the answer. S.M. appeared confused, but Arroyo followed up
by discussing with S.M. the difference between the truth and a lie. S.M. said that he understood
and was able to identify when Arroyo told him a lie and when she told him the truth.
¶ 33 Arroyo then asked S.M. several direct questions. First, she asked him if something
happened that wasn’t supposed to happen; S.M. said no. Arroyo then discussed bodies,
specifically body parts that nobody should touch. S.M. said that he called those areas of his body
his “private parts” and identified his “butt” and the thing that he “pees” out of as his “thing.”
-7- No. 1-25-0340
¶ 34 Arroyo asked him if something happened to or someone did something to his butt; S.M.
said no. Arroyo asked S.M. if something happened to his “thing” or if someone did something to
his “thing,” and again, S.M. said no. S.M. told Arroyo that, if something had happened, he would
have run away. S.M. also said that nobody showed parts of their body to him, nor did anyone ask
to see parts of his body.
¶ 35 After a brief break in the interview, Arroyo asked S.M. about his friend Damian. S.M.
told her that Damian was a friend with whom he played. S.M. did not know Damian’s last name
when Arroyo asked him. Arroyo also inquired if Damian did something mean to S.M. or
something that he did not like, and S.M. said no.
¶ 36 When asked about Mother, S.M. told Arroyo that they had fun together and told Arroyo
that they went to the water park together. When Arroyo asked S.M. directly if his mother did
something mean to him or something he did not like, S.M. said no. And S.M. told Arroyo that if
he got into trouble with Mother, nothing happened. S.M. did not like his mother’s boyfriend,
“Trayco,” however. He told her that he once saw Trayco “bust” his mother’s nose open. Trayco
also slammed the door in S.M.’s face, something he didn’t like.
¶ 37 S.M. said nothing in the first interview about Mother sexually abusing him. Arroyo ended
the interview shortly after he talked about Trayco.
¶ 38 C. Interview with DCFS Investigator Berrios
¶ 39 Georgina Berrios, a DCFS child-protection specialist assigned to investigate the
allegations, testified that she initially spoke with Father about the investigative process. Father
told Berrios that he was interested in getting an order of protection against Mother for S.M.
Berrios later wrote a letter for the court supporting Father’s request for an order of protection in
which she provided an overview of her investigation without giving too many details. Berrios
-8- No. 1-25-0340
also spoke with Mother on August 17, 2023, and informed her that she was being investigated
and generally of the allegations. Mother denied the allegations when Berrios read them to her.
However, per department policies, Berrios did not interview Mother.
¶ 40 On August 21, 2023, Berrios spoke with S.M. at Grandmother’s home. Father and his
sister, S.M.’s aunt, were at home. Berrios took S.M. aside and spoke with him privately.
¶ 41 Berrios introduced herself to S.M. and told him that she was there to check on him and
that it was her job to talk to children about safety. She discussed with S.M. what “safe” means,
and they discussed the private areas of their bodies and bodily safety to make sure that nobody
was touching S.M.’s body parts that were not supposed to be touched.
¶ 42 During the conversation, S.M. mentioned Damian, but when Berrios began to ask him
what happened, S.M. stopped talking about it. Berrios then asked S.M., “[D]id anything else
happen to you that shouldn’t have happened?” S.M. then mentioned that Mother “tried to put my
thing in her mouth.” When Berrios asked if she tried to or actually did put his thing in her mouth,
S.M. replied that “Yes, she did it.” S.M. then said that Mother told him that is what happens
when “boys get emotional.” S.M. said that Mother took him into his room, pulled down his
pants, and put his “thing” in her mouth. Berrios confirmed with S.M. that he calls his penis his
“thing.”
¶ 43 Berrios testified that she believed her evaluation started to make S.M. uncomfortable, so
she decided not to pry further. She testified that, before she started talking to S.M. about his body
safety, he appeared very happy and was smiling. When Berrios began to ask S.M. about the
incident with Damian and then with Mother, he was not talking as much and seemed to close off.
Berrios did admit, however, that she was “not a body language expert.”
¶ 44 After this conversation with S.M., Berrios met with her supervisor and others at the CAC.
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The group decided it would be appropriate to interview S.M. again.
¶ 45 D. Second Interview with Arroyo
¶ 46 Arroyo testified that a second interview with a child over the same incident is unusual.
She conceded that “[i]t is best practice to not conduct second follow-up interviews.” She
estimated that, of the approximately 600 interviews she has conducted, “definitely less than 30”
of them were second interviews of a child.
¶ 47 But there are reasons why a second interview might be necessary, she said, including
when new evidence comes to light or the child makes an “additional outcry.” And here, S.M. had
made an additional outcry to Berrios.
¶ 48 Arroyo conducted her second forensic interview with S.M. on September 22, 2023. This
would be some six weeks after the first outcry to Grandmother (on August 7) and around a
month after Arroyo’s first interview with S.M. (August 18) and the additional outcry to Berrios
(August 21).
¶ 49 As we explain below, S.M. did tell Arroyo that Mother sexually abused him on a single
occasion. But he also told her that, on at least three occasions when he was six—at least some of
which came before the alleged abuse by Mother—he was sexually abused by Damian, who
performed oral and anal sex on him.
¶ 50 In that second forensic interview, Arroyo again told S.M. the rules of the interview, that
he shouldn’t try to guess any of the answers to the questions, and walked him through the
difference between the truth and a lie. S.M. accurately identified a lie and the truth and promised
to tell the truth.
¶ 51 When asked if he knew the reason for the interview, S.M. said that it was because of
“something that I did wrong.” He told Arroyo that he got in trouble and couldn’t play a game at
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school. Arroyo then asked S.M. about parts of his body, including his “butt” and his private
areas. When asked if something happened to his bottom, S.M. answered “no,” then paused
briefly before saying “yes.” Arroyo inquired further; S.M. told her that he felt upset when it
happened, and that his friend Damian “did it.”
¶ 52 Arroyo then asked S.M. several open-ended questions to get S.M. to elaborate. He told
her that something happened in his room at his “old house” when Damian “stuck his thing” into
S.M.’s bottom. S.M. said that he was lying down on the bed on his stomach when it happened,
and that Damian pulled off S.M.’s clothes and underwear (which S.M. referred to as his
“drawers”). Damian took off his clothes, too, and then put his “thing” in S.M.’s “butt.”
¶ 53 When asked if Damian was making any noises, S.M. mimicked heavy breathing. S.M.
told Arroyo that it felt uncomfortable. S.M. also said that Damian asked S.M. to put his thing in
Damien’s bottom. S.M. told Damian that he did not want to do that, but Damian told him to do it
or that he would smack him. Still, S.M. refused to do it. Nobody else was in the room at the time,
S.M. said, and afterward, they went somewhere to get something to eat. He said he told the
police first, then Grandmother, Father, his aunt and uncle about this incident.
¶ 54 After a few more questions, S.M. also said that, at a different time, Damian “sucked” his
“thing.” This first happened in S.M.’s room at his house. Damian pulled S.M.’s clothes down.
Damian pushed him on the bed and “sucked” S.M.’s “thing.” At some point, S.M. told Damien
to stop, and Damien stopped. When asked if this happened only once or more than once, S.M.
answered “more than one time.”
¶ 55 Another time was at Damian’s grandmother’s house, S.M. said, while Damian’s mom
and dad were sleeping. S.M. said that he was in Damian’s room when Damian pushed him down
onto the bed and used his mouth to suck S.M.’s “thing.” S.M. eventually told Damian to stop,
- 11 - No. 1-25-0340
and he did.
¶ 56 Arroyo then asked S.M. if someone else ever did something to S.M.’s “thing.” S.M. first
said “no,” then quickly said “yes” and said that Mother did. Arroyo asked him what happened,
and S.M. told her that that his mother took him into her room, pulled down his pants, and “tried
to suck [his] thing.” S.M. said he pushed her away. Arroyo asked for more details, and S.M.
elaborated that he was lying down flat, and Mother was lying down on her stomach next to him.
His pants and his “drawers” were pulled down, and mom’s clothes and “panties” were down as
well. She tried to suck on S.M.’s thing, and S.M. said he could feel her mouth on his “thing” and
that he could feel her private parts on him. Then she stopped and sent S.M. to his room.
¶ 57 When Arroyo tried to elicit a few more details, S.M. said at one point that Mother was
“humping” him. When asked what “humping” meant, S.M. said it “means that they go faster.”
S.M. described his mother moving faster while lying down. Arroyo asked him how many times
this happened, and S.M. said it happened once, when he was six years old.
¶ 58 When Arroyo questioned S.M. about the incident with Mother, S.M. often paused for
periods of time. He also could not remember whom he first told about the incident with Mother.
¶ 59 At the end of this interview, the following colloquy took place:
“Q. Did anyone tell you what to say today?
A. Yes. My gramma, dad, auntie, and uncle.
Q. What did they tell you?
A. To tell the people what your mom did.”
¶ 60 II. Defense Case (April Hearing)
¶ 61 A. Mother’s Testimony
¶ 62 Mother testified at the adjudication hearing, once in April and again in October after a
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continuance. We start here with her testimony in April. From the outset, Mother denied
performing any kind of sexual act on or touching S.M. in any kind of sexual way. Mother said
that she had been S.M.’s primary caregiver and that, up to that point, he had lived with her most
of his life. While he was living with Mother, S.M. was in school at a local academy and had
great attendance, other than a few missed school days to get treatment for epilepsy.
¶ 63 S.M. went to stay with Father on July 29 and was supposed to stay with him only for the
weekend. Father and Mother worked out this arrangement by phone calls and text messages.
Against Mother’s wishes, however, Father wanted to keep S.M. longer, through the remainder of
the summer until school resumed. Father and Mother argued over this point by phone, including
voicemails and text messages.
¶ 64 Mother’s counsel tried to admit into evidence printouts of text messages and transcripts
of “four belligerent voicemails” to illustrate the level of contentiousness. The State, GAL, and
Father objected. Father’s counsel did not “see the relevance to this conversation,” as it had
“nothing to do with the allegations in the petition.”
¶ 65 Defense counsel argued that the text messages and voicemails were critical “context” for
the first outcry from S.M. that would come on the heels of, and indeed amid this dispute between
Father and Mother. Defense counsel’s theory was that Father and Father’s family had pressured
the child into saying something about Mother that was untrue so that S.M. would stay with
Father and his family, not Mother. In counsel’s words: “these statements by the child are the
result of pressure applied by the father’s family with the goal of continuing to keep the child
away from the mother, which was an endeavor that was started August 1st, 2023 when [Father]
wrongfully refused to send [S.M.] back home after what was supposed to be a short-term visit
and that this started before the very first so called outcry” that occurred on August 7.
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¶ 66 The State replied that the proffered messages from Father to Mother were merely “a
domestic incident between the mom and dad on who’s going to have more time with the kid and
when.” Defense counsel made an offer of proof that
“the text messages from [Father] don’t just say he wants to keep him. They start off flatly
telling mother I’m not sending him back. Again, this situation with these statements that
the child has started making come on the heels of [Father’s] refusal, wrongful refusal, to
send the child back home as had been agreed upon. This is all part of the same scheme to
wrongfully withhold custody of her son from [Mother]. *** I would also make the offer
of proof that during the course of this text discussion, [Father] sent [Mother] a total of
four belligerent voicemails that were part of it. This wasn’t just a dispute between parents
about visitation. This was [Father] wrongfully hanging on to [S.M.] and refusing to send
him back to his home to the person who had been taking care of [S.M.] all his life. And
these statements that the child started making after having been wrongfully withheld by
[Father] are connected to that whole situation.”
¶ 67 The trial court sustained the objection. The court did not believe that evidence of a
contentious dispute over S.M. between Father and Mother, which had begun just days before
S.M.’s first outcry to Father’s mother, was relevant to the credibility of S.M.’s allegations. So the
court denied the admission of any evidence of the text messages or voicemails.
¶ 68 With that, the questioning of Mother ceased.
¶ 69 B. Additional Proffered Evidence of Pressuring
¶ 70 After Mother’s testimony, defense counsel sought to call Reverend Terry Lenoir to
testify. A week earlier, Mother was given leave to amend the case management order to identify
four additional witnesses. They included S.M.’s godparent, a family friend, S.M.’s maternal aunt,
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and Reverend Lenoir.
¶ 71 The GAL objected to lack of notice and timeliness, arguing that defense counsel had
indicated that she would not call Reverend Lenoir, even though she had just named him in the
amended case management order. The GAL also argued that the prejudicial nature of Reverend
Lenoir’s testimony outweighed its probative value.
¶ 72 In her offer of proof, defense counsel conceded that she had not initially intended to call
Reverend Lenoir:
“However, my investigator had a follow-up conversation with him. My investigator e-
mailed me this morning with the—with a summary of what Mr. Reverend Lenoir had told
her during the follow-up conversation. My offer of proof would be that if he was called to
testify, Reverend Terry Lenoir would testify that during December 2023, via either a
Facetime or Zoom conversation with the minor, the minor, [S.M.], told him that ‘his
grandmother was pushing him to say something he did not want to say,’ and that after the
minor had disclosed this to him, Reverend Lenoir told the minor to tell the truth.”
¶ 73 In addition to the GAL’s objection, Father’s counsel challenged the relevance of this
testimony because it was “post-petition”—these events occurred after the September 2023 VSI in
which S.M. told the interviewer of Mother’s sexual abuse. The GAL joined in this objection.
¶ 74 The court ruled that Reverend Lenoir’s testimony was admissible. The GAL asked for a
continuance to prepare for his testimony. The court continued the matter to June 13.
¶ 75 III. June 13 Hearing Date
¶ 76 The June 13 hearing date was cut short, as counsel for Mother moved to withdraw, citing
a breakdown in the attorney-client relationship and noting that Mother was dissatisfied with her
performance and wanted a new lawyer. The court granted the motion to withdraw and continued
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the case to October so that new appointed counsel could get up to speed on the case.
¶ 77 IV. Defense Motion for New Hearing and to Reopen Discovery
¶ 78 In September, new counsel for Mother moved for “a new adjudicatory hearing” and to
“reopen discovery.” The motion made several claims. Among them:
(1) The record failed to explain why S.M. was subjected to a second VSI after he did not
identify Mother (or anyone else) as a sexual abuser in the first one;
(2) On “January 27, 2022, [S.M.] made an outcry of inappropriate touching on his private
parts by two schoolgirls.” The motion claimed that DCFS investigated the allegations and
deemed them “unfounded;”
(3) S.M. identified the minor named Damian as someone who sexually abused him on
several occasions, but “[t]he substance of the DCFS investigation[,] although germane,
remains a mystery;”
(4) “On August 2023, [S.M.] made a[n] outcry [of] biological father physically whipping
him with a telephone cord,” but according to the motion, a DCFS investigation deemed
that allegation “unfounded.”
¶ 79 The motion argued that “justice and fairness” demanded the production of certain
materials, including any files pertaining to Damian and any written or oral records relevant to the
decision to conduct a second VSI. The motion also asked for any police reports or audio tapes of
statements S.M. made to the police after his initial outcry on August 7 to Grandmother.
¶ 80 We have no transcript of any subsequent hearing. The record shows that Mother later
withdrew her motion for a new adjudicatory hearing. The motion for discovery was granted in
part, requiring the turnover of “[a]ll additional discovery,” including “documentation, witnesses,
[and] witness contact information” before the continued adjudication hearing. The record does
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not disclose what “additional discovery” entailed or what was, in fact, turned over to the defense.
¶ 81 V. Defense Case Resumed (October Hearing)
¶ 82 A. Reverend Lenoir
¶ 83 When the hearing resumed in late October 2024, Reverend Lenoir was ready to testify.
Recall that the offer of proof was that the reverend would testify that S.M. told him that “his
grandmother was pushing him to say something he did not want to say,” and his advice to S.M.
was to “tell the truth.”
¶ 84 But the State and GAL again objected once more, this time claiming that he had not been
properly disclosed to the parties and was not listed on the most recent case management order,
which new counsel had amended. As this was the second amendment to the case management
order, the most recent one had been titled “Amended Supplemental Case Management Order.”
¶ 85 It was technically true that this third version of the case management order did not list
Reverend Lenoir. New defense counsel argued that the latest version should be read to
incorporate all previous versions and, in any event, opposing counsel had known of Reverend
Lenoir for six months, since the previous April, when counsel had asked for a continuance
specifically to interview the reverend. Counsel for the GAL stated that she had tried to speak
with Reverend Lenoir but had been unsuccessful. She also stated, in closing, that “Mr. Lenoir
was never disclosed in any written [case management order] that was entered by this Court,”
which is incorrect—the record shows that Reverend Lenoir was disclosed on the April 5 order.
¶ 86 Regardless, the circuit court barred Reverend Lenoir from testifying, finding that he was
not properly disclosed as a witness.
¶ 87 B. Grandmother (Recalled)
¶ 88 Mother called Grandmother in her case-in-chief. Grandmother testified about an incident
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years before the August 2023 outcry, in July 2019, that resulted in her being arrested for
allegedly battering Mother. Grandmother said that Mother had called the police on her and told
the police that everyone at the house had “jumped on her.” Grandmother was arrested, but the
case was dismissed when Mother did not appear in court. Grandmother said that she had never
put her hands on Mother.
¶ 89 Grandmother also testified about an incident in September 2022, which also predated the
conversation with S.M. by nearly a year. Mother messaged and called Grandmother, asking if
she could stay with her for a while. Mother told Grandmother that Mother’s boyfriend at the
time, Travaughn Steele, had physically battered her. Grandmother agreed to take Mother and
S.M. in, and when Mother arrived, Grandmother noticed she was bruised and had several marks
on her face and body. Mother told her that Travaughn had caused them.
¶ 90 Sometime in August 2023, Grandmother caught S.M. watching pornography on an iPad
in her home. Grandmother testified that she asked S.M. if he had watched pornography before,
and he said yes. Upon further questioning as to when S.M. first started watching pornography,
Grandmother believed it had been recently, in the week or month before she caught him, though
she noted that S.M. did not have a good sense of time and could not provide a reliable answer.
¶ 91 C. DCFS Investigator LaShawn Campbell (Recalled)
¶ 92 LaShawn Campbell, a former DCFS investigator, who testified briefly in the State’s case-
in-chief, largely to lay the foundation for the admission of the VSI videos, was recalled by
Mother. Campbell had taken over S.M.’s case from the previous investigator, Berrios, when
Berrios went on parental leave. Campbell was present during the second interview with Arroyo;
though she was not in the room with S.M., she watched and listened as Arroyo questioned him
from behind a one-way mirror. Based on what S.M. said to Arroyo during his second forensic
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interview, Campbell, her supervisor, and other staff decided to take protective custody of S.M.
and file a petition for adjudication of wardship.
¶ 93 Defense counsel questioned Campbell on whether she followed up on certain matters
related to S.M. Campbell stated that she did not further investigate the allegations regarding
Damian. She did not report Damian to the authorities, either, as the forensic interviewer (Arroyo)
had the responsibility of mandatory reporting after S.M. identified him in the VSI.
¶ 94 Campbell also said she learned that S.M. had been caught watching pornography. She
learned this from Grandmother at some point during the investigation—that is, sometime
between August and October 2023. She did not follow up on this information or ask S.M. about
it because, per DCFS policy, once a child is forensically interviewed, they should not be
questioned again by DCFS investigators.
¶ 95 D. Mother
¶ 96 Mother testified briefly for a second time in her own defense. She testified that she was
unaware of any friend of S.M. named Damian. Nor was she aware of any playmate of S.M.
whose name sounded like or rhymed with “Damian.”
¶ 97 VI. Court Ruling
¶ 98 After four days of testimony, the trial court concluded that the State proved by a
preponderance of the evidence that S.M. had been sexually abused, neglected because his
environment was injurious to his welfare, and abused because he was placed at risk of substantial
physical injury. In doing so, the court found that each of the State’s witnesses—Grandmother,
Berrios, Campbell, and Arroyo—testified credibly. The court addressed the specific allegations:
“That brings this Court for all of these reasons, looking at the totality of
the evidence, most specifically, the [interviews with Arroyo], both the August
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18th and the September 22nd, listening to the minor’s words, watching his body
language, and also hearing the adult testimony *** [the court] finds that by a
preponderance of the evidence, the minor is abused and neglected as defined by
the Juvenile Court Act (neglect) injurious environment, (abuse) substantial risk of
injury, and sexual abuse because of the factual basis set forth on the record is the
language I want.”
¶ 99 The court conducted a dispositional hearing on January 29, 2025. After hearing testimony
and argument, the court found that Mother was unable to care for, protect, train, or discipline
S.M. and placed him in the guardianship of DCFS. Mother now appeals.
¶ 100 ANALYSIS
¶ 101 This case comes to us after the trial court, on a petition filed by the State seeking an
adjudication of wardship, found that S.M. had been sexually abused, abused, and neglected, and
made S.M. a ward of the court. See 705 ILCS 405/art. II (West 2024). The Juvenile Court Act
lays out a two-step process to determine if a child should be made a ward of the court. See id.
¶ 102 The first is an adjudication hearing, where the court only determines if the minor has
been abused, neglected, or is dependent. Id. § 2-18(1); In re Z.L., 2021 IL 126931, ¶ 59. If the
court makes such a finding, the case proceeds to a dispositional hearing, where the court must
decide whether it is consistent with the health, safety, and best interests of the minor and the
public that the child be made a ward of the court. Z.L., 2021 IL 126931, ¶ 60. Each case
involving neglect or abuse is sui generis and must be decided on the unique circumstances of the
case. In re Arthur H., 212 Ill. 2d 441, 463 (2004); In re N.B., 191 Ill. 2d 338, 346 (2000).
¶ 103 Here, the State alleged that S.M. had been sexually abused, neglected because he was in
an injurious environment, and abused because he was at a substantial risk of physical injury. 705
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ILCS 405/2-3(1)(b), (2)(ii), (iii) (West 2024). The State bears the burden of proving the
allegations of abuse or neglect by a preponderance of the evidence. Z.L., 2021 IL 126931, ¶ 61.
We will not disturb the trial court’s finding of abuse or neglect unless that finding is against the
manifest weight of the evidence—that is, if the record demonstrates that the opposite result is
clearly evident. In re K.G., 288 Ill. App. 3d 728, 735 (1997).
¶ 104 I. Corroboration of Sexual Abuse
¶ 105 On appeal, Mother argues that the State’s case that she sexually abused her son rests
entirely on S.M.’s uncorroborated hearsay statements. S.M. did not testify at the adjudication
hearing, but his words were heard throughout the hearing and were the lynchpin of the State’s
case. To recap: Grandmother testified that S.M told her that he had touched a friend, Damian, in
his private area. When Grandmother asked him why, S.M. told her a story that ended with him
alleging that his mother performed oral sex on him and rubbed her body up against his.
¶ 106 Berrios, a DCFS caseworker who interviewed S.M., said that S.M. told her something
similar about his friend Damian and about Mother, though he stopped talking at a certain point,
and Berrios didn’t push further. And two videos of S.M.’s forensic interviews with Arroyo were
entered into evidence, where she questioned him about what occurred. In the first interview, he
did not say anything happened, but in the second, about a month after the first, he repeated his
claim that Mother (and Damian) had sexually abused him.
¶ 107 All of S.M.’s statements were made out of court and offered for the truth of what they
assert—quintessential hearsay. Hearsay, any out-of-court statement that is offered to prove the
truth of the matter asserted, is not admissible except otherwise provided by statute or supreme
court rule. Ill. R. Evid. 801(c) (eff. Oct. 15, 2015); Ill. R. Evid. 802 (eff. Jan. 1, 2011). The law
bars this kind of evidence because it generally distrusts hearsay, as there is no opportunity to
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cross-examine the declarant. People v. Shum, 117 Ill. 2d 317, 342 (1987); People v. Jura, 352 Ill.
App. 3d 1080, 1085 (2004).
¶ 108 But the usual bar on hearsay evidence can hinder cases when the declarant is a young
child alleging abuse; a minor may be “reluctant or unable to testify” (A.P., 179 Ill. 2d at 196) or
may “lack the cognitive or language skills to effectively communicate instances of abuse at trial”
(People v. Bowen, 183 Ill. 2d 103, 115 (1998)). This is a thorny issue in abuse and neglect cases;
the law distrusts hearsay evidence because it cannot be tested on the crucible of cross-
examination, but it may be difficult to place a young child on that very crucible.
¶ 109 To harmonize these competing principles, the Juvenile Court Act makes a child’s hearsay
statements admissible in cases brought under the Act when their statements relate to an
allegation of abuse or neglect. 705 ILCS 405/2-18(4)(c) (West 2024). That provision reads:
“Previous statements made by the minor relating to any allegations of abuse or neglect
shall be admissible in evidence. However, no such statement, if uncorroborated and not
subject to cross-examination, shall be sufficient in itself to support a finding of abuse or
neglect.” Id.
¶ 110 The first sentence of the statute, obviously enough, “creates a statutory exception in the
context of abuse and neglect cases involving minors to the general rule against hearsay.” A.P.,
179 Ill. 2d at 196. The second sentence makes clear that the hearsay statement, alone, may not
support a finding of abuse—either the statement must be corroborated or the minor must be
subjected to cross-examination. Id. (statute requires corroboration or cross-examination, not
both). If neither requirement is met, the evidence, based solely on the child’s hearsay, is
insufficient as a matter of law.
¶ 111 S.M. did not testify at the adjudication hearing, so “corroboration of the occurrence of the
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abuse or neglect becomes very important.” In re An. W., 2014 IL App (3d) 130526, ¶ 63. The
court’s finding that Mother sexually abused S.M. must rest on more than just his hearsay
statements—there must be “independent evidence” to corroborate his allegations. A.P., 179 Ill.
2d at 199.
¶ 112 The Juvenile Court Act does not define corroboration, but our supreme court in A.P.
explained that corroborating evidence is “evidence supplementary to that already given and
tending to strengthen or confirm it.” Id. (emphasis added). That is, “corroborating evidence of
the abuse or neglect requires there to be independent evidence which would support a logical and
reasonable inference that the act of abuse or neglect described in the hearsay statement
occurred.” (Emphasis added.) Id. Critically here, “sufficient corroboration of the abuse or neglect
requires more than just witnesses testifying that a minor related claims of abuse or neglect to
them.” Id. at 198 (emphasis added). If all the evidence relates back to the same source, and that
source is the child himself, the evidence is not corroborative.
¶ 113 Over time, Illinois courts have identified many kinds of “independent evidence” that
corroborates a claim of abuse or neglect. Medical evidence of abuse is one of the most common
and obvious forms of corroboration. See id. at 199-200 (medical examination revealing
unexpected prior trauma to child’s hymen and doctor’s conclusion that her vagina had been
penetrated); In re Alexis H., 401 Ill. App. 3d 543, 562 (2010) (evidence that eight-year-old abuse
victim had open hymen, which doctor considered unusual).
¶ 114 Testimony from experts who have worked with or examined the child also can be
corroborative, especially when those professionals conclude that the child has been abused. See
In re M.T., 2025 IL App (1st) 232134, ¶¶ 18-20 (therapist, who worked with child for several
months, opined that child was victim of sexual abuse because she had symptoms of post-
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traumatic stress disorder, experienced disassociation, had intrusive thoughts, and was
hypervigilant); In re C.C., 224 Ill. App. 3d 207, 214-15 (1991) (interdisciplinary team at hospital
concluded boys had been sexually abused).
¶ 115 So too can eyewitness testimony, especially from others who may have witnessed the
abuse or been victims themselves. See An. W., 2014 IL App (3d) 130526, ¶ 65 (children who
witnessed and suffered abuse corroborated each other’s statements); Alexis H., 401 Ill. App. 3d at
561 (same); In re K.O., 336 Ill. App. 3d 98, 102, 109 (2002) (victim’s sibling testified to father’s
sexual contact with victim).
¶ 116 We have nothing like that here. There was no medical evidence of the abuse, which is not
particularly surprising given the specific abuse alleged here, the performance of oral sex on the
child some time prior to the outcry. There was no eyewitness, which is not especially surprising,
either. Nor, to our surprise, did the State present the testimony of any expert who, upon
examination of the child or even of the child’s VSI, might be able to offer some opinion on
whether the child exhibits certain characteristics of sexual abuse. We know that S.M. has been
seeing a therapist since his outcry, and we are told by DCFS investigator Campbell that a team of
professionals witnessed the second VSI from outside the room before making the decision to
charge the case. Yet we heard from no such expert at trial.
¶ 117 The only evidence proffered—the testimony of Grandmother and the DCFS investigator,
Berrios, plus the second VSI—came directly from the child’s mouth. And greatly complicating
matters is that, to the extent the State manages to cobble together even the thinnest circumstantial
corroboration—assuming we could generously term it “corroboration”—it can be just as easily
explained by the sexual abuse committed by Damian, which by S.M.’s account was far more
frequent than the single episode of abuse S.M. assigned to Mother and happened within the very
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same time period. As we will explain, the State and GAL bring Damian’s sexual abuse into the
conversation when it suits their purposes and ignores it when it does not. We do not have the
luxury of being so cavalier with the evidence.
¶ 118 The State and GAL cite the following evidence as corroborative: (1) S.M.’s statements to
Grandmother and Arroyo were consistent with each other; (2) Mother’s threat to S.M. that he
needed to keep the abuse secret or he wouldn’t see his father is commonplace in abuse cases;
(3) S.M.’s “hypersexualized behavior” in his interactions with Damian and watching
pornography is a direct result of the abuse that Mother inflicted on him; (4) S.M.’s use of “age-
inappropriate language beyond the knowledge of a typical seven-year-old” could only have come
from Mother’s abuse; and (5) his behavior when talking to Grandmother and Berrios, along with
his behavior during the second VSI, exhibits evidence of Mother’s abuse.
¶ 119 At the start, we emphasize that we are looking for independent corroboration, not merely
evidence that makes his claims more credible. It is a thin but crucial distinction. Both evidence of
credibility and corroborating evidence make a proposition more likely to be true. In casual
conversation, we might say that evidence that makes a claim more credible “corroborates” that
claim. The phrases are nearly interchangeable.
¶ 120 That is exactly why it is critical to emphasize that the statute requires that the child’s
hearsay statement be corroborated by “independent evidence.” A.P., 179 Ill. 2d at 198, 199
(emphasis added). If we do not demand independent corroboration of the child’s statement, we
run the risk of blurring the distinction to the point that the law’s requirement of corroboration
evaporates entirely.
¶ 121 For example, the fact that the child repeats the allegations to several different people
undoubtedly makes the statement more credible, but it is not independent corroboration. See id.
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at 198 (“[S]ufficient corroboration of the abuse or neglect requires more than just witnesses
testifying that a minor related claims of abuse or neglect to them.”); In re J.L., 2016 IL App (1st)
152479, ¶ 90 (“ ‘[T]he number of times a child repeats an allegation of abuse does not amount to
corroboration.’ ”); In re Custody of Brunken, 139 Ill. App. 3d 232, 239 (1985) (“[T]he four
witnesses who testified as to [minor’s] alleged statements cannot be deemed to have
corroborated each other.”).
¶ 122 We will now consider each claim of corroboration cited by the State and GAL. But we
emphasize here that the question is not whether we think S.M. was telling the truth or whether
the trial court was correct to believe him. It is whether the State complied with the law, which
requires independent corroboration of the hearsay allegations to sustain a finding of abuse.
¶ 123 A. Consistency of S.M. Various Statements
¶ 124 The State and GAL argue that S.M.’s statements to Grandmother, Berrios, and the
forensic investigator were consistent with one another. We have already noted above that the
child’s various statements cannot serve as independent corroboration of each other, no matter
how many times he repeated them and despite their consistency. See A.P., 179 Ill. 2d at 198;
J.L., 2016 IL App (1st) 152479, ¶ 90; Brunken, 139 Ill. App. 3d at 239. (That is not to say that
S.M. was entirely consistent in his claims—the State and GAL overstate that point—but it is
irrelevant, regardless.)
¶ 125 B. Mother’s Alleged Threat to Child
¶ 126 The next asserted corroboration—Mother’s purported threat to S.M. to keep the abuse
secret—suffers from the same problem. We fully appreciate that “securing the victim’s silence
and preventing detection is an integral component of any ongoing sexually abusive relationship
between an adult and a child.” People v. Boling, 2014 IL App (4th) 120634, ¶ 91. But the
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problem here is that the proof of threats to keep quiet, like the proof of abuse itself, comes only
from the child. If it comes from the same source, it simply cannot be independent corroboration.
¶ 127 C. Hypersexualized Conduct with Damian
¶ 128 The State and GAL claim that S.M.’s sexual interactions with Damian constituted
“hypersexualized” conduct. We certainly understand that such evidence, under the right
circumstances, might be relevant and corroborative of S.M.’s testimony. See In re T.P., 2021 IL
App (1st) 210318-U, ¶¶ 88-89 (corroborative evidence included fact that mother saw one child
laying on top of another while “moving in a sexual-like manner”). But not here. First, unlike
T.P., where the mother testified to the minor victim’s overly sexual conduct, in this case all
evidence of Damian comes from S.M. So this claim of corroboration suffers from the same
problem as the others we have discussed above—it is not independent of the child’s words.
¶ 129 We could stop there, but a second and independent reason we reject this argument is that,
even if we could overlook that the source of this information is the minor himself, we could not
make the logical leap that State asks of us in any event, based on the evidence or lack thereof in
the record. The relevance of post-incident hypersexual conduct is that the child is acting
unnaturally for a child of his or her age, leading to the inference that the respondent’s abuse is
the reason for that behavior. See id. ¶¶ 88-90. But that logical inference would not work here.
¶ 130 We are told from S.M. that at least one of the alleged sexual episodes with Damian
preceded his alleged encounter with Mother, at least as S.M. related events to Grandmother.
Recall that S.M. told Grandmother that Mother was consoling S.M. over a sexual encounter S.M.
had with Damian just before she, herself, performed that same sex act on S.M. The State can
hardly blame Mother’s alleged sexual abuse for prompting a sexual act with Damian that had
already happened.
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¶ 131 And beyond that one sexual act with Damian, we have absolutely no way of knowing
when, timewise, the single instance of sexual abuse attributed to Mother fit in with the (at least)
four or five sexual incidents with Damian—we do not know which came before which. So even
if we could put aside that S.M.’s allegations of sexual contact with Damian are not independent
corroboration—and we cannot—we may not presume cause and effect, as the State would have
us do, when we have no idea which events came before the others.
¶ 132 We understand that a child will have difficulty pinning down precise dates or times;
Grandmother testified here that S.M. was unable to do so. Our point is not to criticize the child.
Our point is that, if the State is going to ask us to draw inferences like this one—the fact that
S.M. was sexually active with Damian is evidence that he was previously abused by Mother—
then we will need, at the barest minimum, evidence that Mother’s alleged conduct came before
the sexual conduct with Damian. We have no information whatsoever on this point.
¶ 133 Finally, for an entirely different reason, we take issue with the State and GAL
characterizing S.M.’s incidents with Damian as evidence of S.M.’s hypersexual behavior. As we
heard S.M. relate the events in the VSI, he was the victim of Damian’s hypersexuality, the victim
of a boy who was two years his senior. S.M. clearly stated that Damian forced acts of anal and
oral sex on him against his will. A victim of sexual assault is a victim, full stop. To characterize
that victim as a willing, “hypersexual” participant is a bridge we will not cross.
¶ 134 D. Hypersexualized Conduct in Watching Pornography
¶ 135 Next, the State and GAL claim that the fact that S.M. was caught watching pornography
in and before August 2023 is evidence of hypersexuality, which could only be explained by his
Mother’s sexual abuse. We cannot accept this argument for several reasons. For one, the State
and GAL conveniently ignore that, according to S.M., S.M. had engaged in at least four or five
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sexual episodes with Damian by August 2023. We cannot imagine how the State and GAL could
ask us to draw the inference that S.M.’s watching of pornography had nothing to do with the four
or five instances of sexual contact with Damian and everything to do with the single instance of
alleged sexual abuse by Mother.
¶ 136 On a related note, we know precious little of the details surrounding S.M.’s watching of
pornography. Though there are vague and unsourced references in the DCFS reports, the only
substantive evidence put forth at trial on this topic came from Grandmother, on questioning from
the GAL:
“Q: [H]ave you ever seen [S.M.] watching porn on an iPad or any device?
A: Well, I just saw him recently, and I spoke with the—with Tyler about it—
which is the therapist, and that was the first time I witnessed him watching the porn.
***
Q: Has [S.M.] ever told you that he watched porn previously?
Q: When was that conversation?
A: We had the conversation after I saw him—well, we had the conversation
before when everything happened, about watching inappropriate things online, but we
just had the—
Q: Let me ask the follow up. When you say after everything happened, are you
talking about back in August of 2023?
Q: Okay. In 2023, you asked him if he was watching porn?
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Q: Okay. And what did he say?
A: He said yes.
Q: Did he say that it was—that he had been recently watching as in that month or
the prior month?
Q: Did he tell you—did he give you any indication as to when he started?
A: No. He just doesn’t have a sense of time like not like one week ago, one month
ago.”
¶ 137 We do not know when S.M. first started watching pornography. From what we can tell,
Grandmother asked him about his watching of pornography in August 2023, and he confirmed
that he had been watching it for some time before then, starting point unclear.
¶ 138 So we do not know if S.M. started watching pornography before his alleged sexual
encounter with Mother or after. Again, we can hardly pin his watching of pornography on
Mother’s alleged abuse if he was watching pornography before that incident. Nor, as we have
already explained, do we have any idea when he started watching pornography relative to when
Damian first started molesting him, which we know at least started before the alleged incident
with Mother.
¶ 139 And the State made no effort to fill in the details. Grandmother indicated above that she
shared her revelation, in August 2023, with S.M.’s therapist. But we did not hear from the
therapist at trial. The DCFS investigator, Campbell, confirmed that she learned about S.M.
watching pornography from Grandmother somewhere in the same time frame of August 2023,
but Campbell testified that she never looked into the allegation or asked S.M. about it.
¶ 140 The long and short is that, if the State expects us to draw an inference that the only reason
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S.M. would be watching pornography is that he was molested by Mother, the State has fallen far
short of doing so.
¶ 141 We must be clear here: we fully accept that a minor, especially one of S.M.’s tender age,
cannot be expected to remember specific dates or even months when the abuse occurred. We
have upheld findings of abuse when the minor was unable to be so specific. But that is not the
problem here. The problem is that the State must independently corroborate the minor’s hearsay
allegations, and if it does so by trying to play cause (Mother’s abuse) and effect (S.M. watching
pornography), we must have some evidence in the record that the cause came before the effect.
¶ 142 The State is entitled to reasonable inferences in its favor on appellate review, but that
does not include asking us to guess when there is only speculation in the record. And again, the
State’s theory becomes more tenuous still when we have evidence of another cause—Damian’s
abuse—happening during the very same time frame and more frequently and beginning, at least,
before the Mother is alleged to have engaged in her single act of sexual abuse.
¶ 143 We would add that the State presented no expert testimony linking the watching of
pornography with evidence of previous sexual abuse. In closing argument, the GAL argued that
S.M. watching pornography “demonstrates that this young boy is hypersexualized and possibly
even sexually aggressive which often is indicative of molestation.” But that is an opinion if ever
we heard one, and no evidence was put on to support that opinion. An expert such as S.M.’s
therapist might have been able to testify to that diagnosis, but we fail to see how a layperson
could—and the State did not even try to put that evidence in through a layperson. The lawyer
simply stated it in closing argument out of whole cloth, as if it were an accepted truth. Attorneys
are permitted to argue reasonable inferences in closing argument, but they are not allowed to
state expert opinions that have no foundation in the trial record.
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¶ 144 On that same note, another thing we don’t know, at the risk of being too graphic—these
cases are not for the faint-hearted—is what type of pornography S.M. was watching. Was he
watching pornography that mirrored the incident of anal sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of
Damian? Oral sex like he claimed he experienced with both Damian and Mother? Was it child
pornography depicting two children or depicting an adult (perhaps a female) and child? Or adult
pornography? Presumably, those details would be of particular interest to an expert in trying to
draw a cause-and-effect relationship between a young child’s watching of pornography and a
specific episode of abuse. All we heard, however, is that S.M. was watching “pornography.”
¶ 145 If our discussion reeks of frustration, it should. Far be it for a panel of judges to tell law
enforcement how to investigate a claim, but it is obvious enough that law enforcement routinely
searches browser histories of computers to learn more about a suspect’s use of the computer,
including what the individual viewed and when. See, e.g., People v. Martin, 2024 IL App (4th)
230124-U, ¶ 20; United States v. Griffin, 783 F. App’x 881, 886 (11th Cir. 2019). It would not
have been terribly hard for the State to lock down these details before attempting to use evidence
of S.M.’s viewing of pornography as corroborative evidence.
¶ 146 As it stands, we do not know when S.M. started watching pornography. And since we are
unable to pin down when Mother allegedly abused him or when Damian started molesting him,
any possible cause-and-effect inference would be entirely unreasonable to draw. Absent any such
tie-up, and absent any expert testimony linking his pornography viewing with sexual abuse
committed by Mother (as opposed to Damian’s abuse), we cannot find this evidence
corroborative in any way of the minor’s hearsay accusations of abuse.
¶ 147 E. Age-Inappropriate Language
¶ 148 Next, the State and GAL claim that S.M.’s use of age-inappropriate language to describe
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the abuse is corroborative. For many reasons, we cannot agree with this argument.
¶ 149 The reason why age-inappropriate language makes a child’s hearsay allegation more
credible—not necessarily independently corroborative, but more credible—is obvious enough.
There is a straight-line logic to the idea that when a child talks in detailed ways about adult
sexual acts, it is “very unlikely, at [their] age, that [a child] could have fabricated these
descriptions” if they “had not been taught to do it.” In re Walter B., 227 Ill. App. 3d 746, 755
(1992). For example, what semen looks like is not something a child would be expected to
describe “unless [they] had seen it, which is unlikely unless the events [the child] described had
actually taken place.” K.O., 336 Ill. App. 3d at 108.
¶ 150 But even if that inference constituted independent corroboration generally, it certainly
does not here. The State would have us accept that S.M.’s use of the phrases “suck” his “thing”
and “humping” could only have come from the alleged abuse he suffered at the hands of Mother.
The State conveniently ignores that, by August 7, 2023, the date of S.M.’s first outcry, Damian
had already performed that same sexual act on S.M. at least twice. And S.M. had started
watching pornography on an iPad. It is exasperating, to put it mildly, that the State acts if
Damian does not exist when it suits its purposes and highlights the pornography only when
convenient. And it borders on the frivolous for the State to claim that the only way S.M. would
know this vocabulary on August 7, 2023, is due to Mother’s alleged abuse.
¶ 151 We would also state, more generally, that we have a difficult time accepting that “age-
inappropriate” language could serve as independent corroboration in any event, at least absent
expert testimony. Under a plain reading of the statute, S.M.’s description of Mother “sucking”
his “thing” and “humping” him is the very statement that requires independent corroboration: a
“[p]revious statement[ ] made by the minor relating to any allegations of abuse or neglect.” 705
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ILCS 405/2-18(4)(c) (West 2024). The very next sentence provides that “no such statement, if
uncorroborated and not subject to cross-examination, shall be sufficient in itself to support a
finding of abuse or neglect.” Id. (emphases added).
¶ 152 Simply put, S.M.’s claim that Mother “sucked” his “thing” and “humped” him is the
statement of abuse. If we allow that very statement to corroborate itself, we read the second
sentence out of the law. We take the “independent” out of “independent evidence.” A.P., 179 Ill.
2d at 199. That cannot be the law. That is as circular as circular gets. Evidence that our supreme
court says must be “supplementary to that already given” (id.) must mean something separate
and apart from the child’s hearsay statement.
¶ 153 At the risk of over-repetition, the mere fact that evidence makes a proposition more likely
true does not mean it is independent evidence. Of course we understand that the more specific a
child’s hearsay statement is in its description of sexual abuse, the more likely it is credible. It
may be persuasive evidence, but it is anything but independent evidence.
¶ 154 An analogy to the criminal version of this rule of law is helpful. Section 115-10 of the
Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963 exempts out-of-court statements by victims of certain sex
crimes from the hearsay rule. 725 ILCS 5/115-10(a) (West 2024). Like the statute before us,
section 115-10 imposes safeguards. First, the court conducts a hearing to determine if “the time,
content, and circumstances of the statement provide sufficient safeguards of reliability.” Id.
§ 115-10(b)(1). If the circumstances surrounding the statement make it sufficiently reliable, the
victim who made the statement must either testify at the proceeding or, if they are unavailable as
a witness, there must be “corroborative evidence of the act which is the subject of the statement”
before the statement may be admitted at trial. Id. § 115-10(b)(2)(A), (B).
¶ 155 Note the two-step process: the court first requires reliability, then requires independent
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corroboration (unless the victim testifies). Note further that, in evaluating the statement’s
reliability in the first step, we consider such facts “as the child’s spontaneous and consistent
repetition of the incident, mental state, use of terminology unexpected of a child of similar age,
and lack of motive to fabricate.” People v. Rodriguez, 2022 IL App (1st) 200315, ¶ 101
(emphasis added); see People v. Burgund, 2016 IL App (5th) 130119, ¶¶ 242, 247.
¶ 156 That is consistent with our point—a child’s use of age-inappropriate language might
make his or her statement more reliable, but it does not constitute independent corroboration.
¶ 157 The law requires independent corroboration in this context because, quite simply, the law
is reluctant to adjudicate such a monumental allegation, with such monumental consequences, on
the words of a child alone, particularly when that child is not subject to any adversarial
examination at all. A child may be too young to appreciate the difference between fact and
fiction, between reality and fantasy; a child may not appreciate the moral and practical
ramifications of lying; a child may be susceptible to suggestion, even innocent or unintentional
suggestion by an untrained adult or, worse, manipulated into saying something that is untrue (the
principal defense here).
¶ 158 So to help ensure that the child’s statement is not the product of the child’s inability to
differentiate truth from falsity, that an adult did not put those words in the child’s mouth, we
require something beyond the child’s words—physical or medical evidence, subsequent actions
of the child indicative of abuse, an eyewitness, medical or psychological testimony from an
expert, testimony from other children attesting to the same abuse.
¶ 159 It is critical that the safeguard of independent corroboration remain fully intact. After all,
given the abhorrent nature of child sex abuse and the understandable reluctance to place children
on the witness stand, the law has already done something that would be unthinkable in any other
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context—allowing hearsay evidence as substantive proof. The very least we can do is honor the
one guardrail the legislature put in place to at least partially re-balance the scales.
¶ 160 One final point: we question whether laypersons or judges have the expertise to
determine what language is age-inappropriate for children. We talk about this evidence as if it
were self-evident, but not all children grow up the same or are subject to the same influences and
experiences. Not all judges are the same, either. Here, would it be so controversial to say that
there are probably some seven-year-olds in this country who are capable of describing oral sex in
rudimentary terms, even though they’ve never been abused—surely not all children of that age,
and probably not most, but at least some? Generalizations in this area are dangerous.
¶ 161 As the Missouri Supreme Court noted in rejecting the use of age-inappropriate language
as independent corroboration,
“a particular child’s verbal skills and word choices are the product of various cultural and
social influences, in which parents, siblings, friends, and the entertainment media all play
a role. Consequently, the particular words used by a particular child mean little when
considering content reliability, since different children, even of the same age, will use
different words—depending on their family experiences and their socialization—to
describe the same sexual organs or sexual acts.” State v. Redman, 916 S.W.2d 787, 791
(Mo. 1996).
¶ 162 It would be different, to be sure, if an expert trained in such matters testified, based on an
examination of a particular child in a particular setting, that the use of certain language was
inappropriate for that child. Expert testimony has routinely been considered independent
corroboration. Beyond that, however, we caution against the use of this evidence to serve as
independent corroboration in general.
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¶ 163 We acknowledge that a number of decisions, cited here by the State and GAL, have
found that age-inappropriate language may constitute independent corroboration of a child’s
hearsay claim of sexual abuse. We respectfully disagree with those decisions on that specific
point, but we hasten to add that these decisions did not deeply probe the topic and, in each
decision, the age-inappropriate comment was not the only independent corroborative evidence.
See Walter B., 227 Ill. App. 3d at 754-55 (testimony from caseworker and medical records
corroborated that child was physically and sexually abused); K.O., 336 Ill. App. 3d at 108
(child’s sexual abuse corroborated by respondent’s indictment and conviction for predatory
criminal sexual assault, medical assessment, and eyewitness testimony from another child who
was also abused); C.C., 224 Ill. App. 3d at 214-15 (corroborating evidence included testimony
from child’s therapists and “interdisciplinary team” that put together “ ‘composite picture’ ” of
children and concluded they had been sexually abused); Alexis H., 401 Ill. App. 3d at 561-62
(multiple child victims, some who witnessed abuse against others, corroborated each other, as
well as medical testimony noting that eight-year-old girl had open hymen, which doctor
considered unusual); J.L., 2016 IL App (1st) 152479, ¶ 92 (multiple statements from child
victims who were siblings corroborated each other); T.P., 2021 IL App (1st) 210318-U, ¶ 89
(mother heard and witnessed children playing with each other, with one “moving in a sexual-like
manner”); In re A.R., 2023 IL App (1st) 230201-U, ¶¶ 32-33 (medical records and parent’s
statements provided corroboration); M.T., 2025 IL App (1st) 232134, ¶ 39 (therapist testified that
child’s behavior was consistent with being sexually abused).
¶ 164 In any event, as we have explained above, even if age-inappropriate language could serve
theoretically as independent corroboration, it certainly does not here. The evidence here showed
that, by the time that S.M. complained that Mother “sucked” his “thing” and “humped” him,
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S.M. had already experienced much the same sexual act, twice at least, at the hands of Damian
and had already started viewing pornography. The notion that his vocabulary could only have
been learned from Mother’s alleged sexual abuse is clearly invalid.
¶ 165 F. S.M.’s Demeanor in Relating Events
¶ 166 Finally, the State and GAL also focus on S.M.’s demeanor when describing the alleged
sexual abuse by Mother. First, they claim that the fact that S.M. was red-faced and crying when
he talked to Grandmother about Mother’s sexual abuse is corroborative of his claims. One
significant problem with this argument is that its premise is incorrect. Recall that the first thing
S.M. confessed to Grandmother was not about Mother but Damian; S.M. told her that he had
touched Damian’s private parts. That spawned this question and answer:
“Q: What was [S.M.]’s demeanor when you were asking him about touching his
friend inappropriately?
A: He was nervous. He was wringing his hands. He was turning red, and he
started to cry.”
¶ 167 Understandably, S.M. was red-faced and nervous and crying from the outset of this
conversation with Grandmother while discussing Damian, before he even got to any talk of
Mother. The fact that he didn’t stop crying as his narrative moved on to Mother does not strike
us as “independent evidence which would support a logical and reasonable inference that the act
of abuse or neglect described in the hearsay statement occurred.” A.P., 179 Ill. 2d at 199.
¶ 168 The testimony of Berrios was no more compelling. As in every other conversation in
which S.M. discussed abuse—whether he told Grandmother, the forensic interviewer, or here
Berrios—S.M. began the conversation by stating that Damian inappropriately touched him.
Berrios testified that, before she broached the topic of body safety—her diplomatic way of
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asking about abuse—S.M. had been “really happy. He had a game controller in his hand. He was
smiling. He was very interactive just being, like, real cute. And then it transitioned to
discomfort.” She elaborated that, in terms of body positioning, “[h]e was more, like, closed off.
But it was something that, you know, he seemed, to me, relieved. But I can’t necessarily say. I’m
not a body language expert.”
¶ 169 We have trouble finding anything corroborative about the fact that a seven-year-old boy
felt uncomfortable discussing matters of intimacy with an adult he had just met. Does this child’s
discomfort in sharing such personal matters with a complete stranger make it more likely that he
was telling the truth versus (as the defense argued) saying something that wasn’t true, perhaps at
the behest of the paternal side of the family (as the defense also argued)? Frankly, we cannot
imagine a scenario in which a seven-year-old would feel anything but uncomfortable in this
context. It is simply too thin a reed to constitute independent corroboration sufficient to sustain a
hearsay allegation of abuse, without more. See, e.g., In re Marriage of Flannery, 328 Ill. App. 3d
602, 614 (2002) (relying on A.P. to analyze similar statute in marriage-dissolution case:
“testimony regarding the physical manifestations that accompany a child’s hearsay statements of
abuse is insufficient to corroborate the out-of-court statements when the child’s conduct is the
only corroborative evidence presented”).
¶ 170 We note Berrios’s self-awareness in stating that she is “not a body language expert.” We
have credited testimony of experts who have opined about a minor’s mannerisms and body
language in assessing whether the minor’s actions are indicative of abuse. See M.T., 2025 IL
App (1st) 232134, ¶ 33 (noting that trial court “specifically focused on Ms. Cifuentes’s
testimony that M.T.’s ‘accounts’ and ‘body language’ were consistent with child abuse and that
this was ‘based on [Ms. Cifuentes’s] experience and dealing with children and her training in
- 39 - No. 1-25-0340
dealing with children’ ”); In re Marriage of Gilbert, 355 Ill. App. 3d 104, 114 (2004) (testimony
of assistant director of CAC, police detective, and DCFS investigator, the latter two of whom
drew observations from minor’s VSI); In re K.L.M., 146 Ill. App. 3d 489, 493 (1986)
(psychotherapist testified that minor’s behavior during interview “was a sign of abuse”).
¶ 171 Here, a number of professionals, from outside the room, observed S.M. during his second
VSI to determine whether a basis existed to file a petition for adjudication of wardship, including
a police detective. Presumably—hopefully—some of those people had sufficient qualifications to
make assessments that S.M.’s statements were credible. And the VSI was videotaped, obviously,
something an expert could view later, if not contemporaneously. And that is to say nothing of
S.M.’s therapist. The State had every opportunity to present expert testimony as to S.M.’s
behavior, demeanor, and the like but, for reasons we cannot understand, did not do so.
¶ 172 Finally, the State and GAL note that the trial judge watched the VSI and found S.M. to be
a credible witness. Of course a trial judge should evaluate the minor’s testimony at the VSI and
make credibility determinations, and we have no doubt the trial judge carefully studied the VSIs,
as did we. But we think it would take the law down a dangerous path if this credibility
determination could constitute “independent” corroboration.
¶ 173 For one, it should be obvious enough that judging the credibility of a child who relates
sexual abuse is not remotely on a par with determining the credibility of a witness who testifies,
say, that the traffic light was red versus green, or that it was the defendant and not someone else
who robbed the store. There is a reason why so many abuse cases, particularly those lacking
physical or medical evidence, rely on expert testimony to probe for nuances in a child’s behavior
or mannerisms to look for signs of abuse or even veracity. See, e.g., M.T., 2025 IL App (1st)
232134, ¶ 33; C.C., 224 Ill. App. 3d at 214-15; Gilbert, 355 Ill. App. 3d at 114; K.L.M., 146 Ill.
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App. 3d at 493.
¶ 174 And it is an especially hazardous exercise when the child speaks only at the VSI, where
he may be slightly prompted but is never directly challenged; Ms. Arroyo made that very point in
describing her role as a forensic interviewer. In any other case where we defer to the credibility
judgment of a trial judge, that judge has not only observed the witness on direct examination but
on cross-examination. Part of a judge’s ability to evaluate a witness’s veracity is to see how that
witness holds up under adversarial questioning. S.M. was not subjected to adversarial
examination—not in the VSI, not ever. (For understandable reasons, but the point remains.)
¶ 175 More fundamentally, if the trial court’s credibility judgment on the minor’s videotaped
interview were enough, by itself, to corroborate the child’s hearsay statement, then we are on a
path to no longer requiring independent corroboration. As we discussed at some length in the
previous section, the child’s testimony at the VSI was the hearsay allegation of abuse that formed
the basis of the charge here. If all it takes to “corroborate” that hearsay statement, which in this
case happened on video, is to find that the minor seemed credible when making it, then the
requirement that the State provide evidence “supplementary to that already given” (A.P., 179 Ill.
2d at 199) goes out the window.
¶ 176 We are not saying the trial judge should not make a credibility evaluation of the minor’s
videotaped statement. Of course she should. Nor are we criticizing the evaluation this judge
made. But we disagree that this evaluation can constitute independent corroboration, not without
the testimony of experts qualified in their particular field to make these observations.
¶ 177 We end where we started: We are not saying that we do not believe this child. We are
saying that the law forbids us from upholding a finding of sexual abuse on the hearsay statement
of a child alone. And here, that is all we have. To our surprise and frustration, though the State
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knew all along that it lacked physical or medical evidence of abuse, that it lacked the testimony
of eyewitnesses or other victims, and that it had the added complication of a second alleged
abuser—in other words, that its case rested solely on the words of this child—the State put on a
case void of expert testimony, void of certain details it likely could have filled in, and left this
case with no independent corroboration of S.M.’s hearsay statements.
¶ 178 The finding of sexual abuse is reversed.
¶ 179 II. Remaining Abuse and Neglect Charges
¶ 180 Having found that the State did not meet its burden on the sexual-abuse claim, we are left
with the allegations that Mother neglected S.M. by exposing him to an injurious environment and
was abusive based on a substantial risk of injury in that environment. These claims stem from
S.M.’s statement in the first forensic interview that Mother was with a partner who once
physically battered her.
¶ 181 If nothing else, we can say that the State independently corroborated that claim. Recall
that Grandmother testified that, in September 2022, Mother reached out to her and asked if she
could stay with Grandmother for a while. Mother told her she was afraid of her boyfriend and
feared for her safety. Mother eventually came over to Grandmother’s house with S.M. and told
her that her then-paramour, Travaughn, had punched her so hard in the face that she thought she
broke her nose. Grandmother also said that she saw marks and bruises on Mother’s face and
body, and that Mother said that Travaughn caused the injuries.
¶ 182 Mother argues that evidence of one incident of domestic violence, after which she
quickly left the house and sought safety, is hardly proof of abuse or neglect. She worries that a
mother who is a victim of domestic violence even once runs the risk of having her child taken
away from her, even when she leaves the abusive party. For their part, both the State and GAL
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argue that the trial court’s findings were not manifestly erroneous.
¶ 183 There is no question that the sexual-abuse charge dominated this case, the remaining
charges concerning domestic battery an afterthought at best. Grandmother’s testimony was the
only evidence at trial, with S.M.’s statement in the first VSI playing off-camera. The judge’s
findings on the record reflected as much, mentioning the domestic violence only in passing.
¶ 184 The law requires the trial court, in finding abuse or neglect, to explain the factual basis
supporting that finding and specify what acts or omissions formed the basis of the court’s
findings. 705 ILCS 405/2-21(1) (West 2024). This helps the parents know what they did wrong
and gives a reviewing court something to review. In re Madison H., 215 Ill. 2d 364, 374 (2005).
That did not happen here.
¶ 185 Given the lack of factual findings and the obvious dominance of the charge we have now
reversed, the best course is to vacate the court’s other findings of abuse and neglect and remand
to the trial court for further consideration of those charges. Whether the trial court will simply
explain its findings and re-enter judgment, whether the trial court will reconsider that judgment,
or whether the trial court will decide to reopen the proofs, are for the trial court to decide.
¶ 186 And because we have now either reversed or vacated each of the charges, we must also
vacate the court’s judgment at the disposition hearing that followed the adjudication hearing.
¶ 187 CONCLUSION
¶ 188 The judgment of the circuit court is reversed insofar as the court found that Mother
sexually abused S.M. The court’s remaining judgment at the adjudication hearing is vacated. The
judgment of the circuit court at the disposition hearing is vacated. The cause is remanded for
further proceedings.
¶ 189 Reversed in part; vacated in part; cause remanded.
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In re S.M., 2026 IL App (1st) 250340
Decision Under Review: Appeal from the Circuit Court of Cook County, No. 23-JA-722; the Hon. Lisa M. Taylor, Judge, presiding.
Attorneys Marv Raidbard, of Skokie, for appellant. for Appellant:
Attorneys Eileen O’Neill Burke, State’s Attorney, of Chicago (John E. for Nowak, Gina DiVito, and Marina C. Para, Assistant State’s Appellee: Attorneys, of counsel), for the People.
Charles P. Golbert, Kass A. Plain, Carrie Fung, Maria A. Petrone, of the Office of the Cook County Public Guardian, of Chicago, for the minor.
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Related
Cite This Page — Counsel Stack
2026 IL App (1st) 250340, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-sm-illappct-2026.