KINKY PARENTS AND CHILD CUSTODY Effect of the

KINKY PARENTS AND CHILD CUSTODY Effect of the DSM-5 Differentiation between the Paraphilias and Paraphilic Disorders Susan Wright, MA

Susan Wright Director of Incident Reporting & Response National Coalition for Sexual Freedom www. ncsfreedom. org

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) Consensual paraphilias: sexual sadism • sexual masochism • transvestic fetishism •

NCSF Incident Reporting & Response (IRR) NCSF’s IRR program offers educational resources and referrals to kink aware professionals upon request, and records and tracks the types of discrimination taking place against kinky and nonmonogamous people. • 800 reports of child custody discrimination 2005 -2016

Quote from social worker in Midwestern state: “With regards to [mother's] alternative lifestyle; can she separate this from her parenting? There has been some questions arise from other team members regarding her sexual sadism. ” (2009)

Prior to NCSF’s DSM-5 project Year Reports Custody/ Visitation lost retained % Retained at least partial custody 2005 87 72 15 17% 2006 59 48 11 19% 2007 71 58 13 18%

During NCSF’s DSM-5 project Year Reports Custody/ Visitation Removed Custody/ Visitation Retained % Retained at least Partial Custody 2008 125 103 22 17% 2009 110 93 17 15% 2010 103 90 13 13%

DSM-5 proposal separated paraphilias from Paraphilic Disorders: “A paraphilia is a necessary but not sufficient condition for having a paraphilic disorder, and a paraphilia by itself does not necessarily justify or require clinical intervention. ”

After NCSF’s DSM-5 project Year 2011 Reports Custody/ Visitation removed 101 78 Custody/ Visitation retained 23 % Retained custody 23% 2012 77 36 41 58% 2014 33 4 29 88% 2015 19 3 16 84%

Child Custody cases now: Year Reports 2016 7 2017* 10 Custody/ Visitation removed retained 2 5 3 7 % Lost custody 29% 30%

140 Number of kinky parents who ask NCSF for help each year with child custody issues 120 100 80 60 Number of parents who lost custody or visitation rights because they are kinky 40 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016

Visit the NCSF table in the Exhibit Area Contact Susan Wright at susan@ncsfreedom. org www. ncsfreedom. org