Rule 2:803.1.Statements by Child Describing Acts Relating to Offense Against Children (Derived from Code § 19.2-268.3).

Rule 2:803.1 creates a dedicated hearsay exception for a category of especially vulnerable declarants: children who are alleged victims of offenses against children. The statement must describe an act directed against the child relating to the alleged offense identified in Code § 19.2-268.3(A), and the child must be under 13 years of age at the time of the trial or hearing. Even meeting that description, the statement clears the hearsay bar in Rule 2:802 only if both conditions in subdivision (a) are satisfied.

The first condition is a reliability finding the court must make in a hearing held before trial: the time, content, and totality of the circumstances surrounding the statement must provide sufficient indicia of reliability to render it inherently trustworthy. The rule lists factors the court may weigh — the child’s personal knowledge of the event, the child’s age, maturity, and mental state, the credibility of the person testifying about the statement, any apparent motive the child may have had to falsify or distort the event (including bias or coercion), whether the child was in pain or distress when making the statement, and whether extrinsic evidence shows the defendant had the opportunity to commit the act.

The second condition addresses the child’s own status at trial: the child must either testify, or be declared unavailable by the court. If the court declares the child unavailable, the statement may be admitted under this rule only if corroborative evidence of the act relating to the alleged offense exists — unavailability alone is not enough. Subdivision (b) adds a procedural safeguard: the party intending to offer the statement must give the opposing party written notice of that intent, and provide or make available copies of the statement, at least 14 days before the proceeding begins. Subdivision (c) makes clear the rule is additive, not exclusive — it does not limit the admission of a child’s statement under any other hearsay exception or applicable rule of evidence that might independently apply.