12.6.11 Child’s Hearsay Statements

A child’s hearsay statements to a doctor, mental health professional, or abuse expert may be admissible.1  The Louisiana Supreme Court (and several courts of appeal) have concluded that a child’s hearsay statements should be admissible in child custody cases, PSVRA cases, and DAAA cases under the relaxed evidentiary standard of La. C.E. art. 1101.2

Note that not all statements made by children are hearsay. For example, if you are introducing the child’s statement to simply show that the child said something, rather than to show that what the child said was true, the statement would not be hearsay because it is not being offered for the truth of the matter asserted. An example of this would be a child calling his mother an obscene name that he has heard his abusive father call the mother.

• 1S.L.B. v. C.E.B., 2017-0978, pp. 24–26 (La. App. 4 Cir. 7/27/18), 252 So. 3d 950, 967–68 (affirming trial court’s admission of child’s audiotaped interview with doctor 4 days after injury where it was part of medical record in DAAA protective order hearing); G.N.S. v. S.B.S., 35,348, pp. 19–21 (La. App. 2 Cir. 9/28/01), 796 So. 2d 739, 750–51.
• 2For additional discussion, see Section 12.6.1.