Thorbjorg Sveinsdottir - Children´s house Multi-agency and Interdisciplinary Approach to Child Sexual Abuse

Lack of coordination between the CPS, Police, Prosecution and Health Services Lack of specialisation Lack of interdisciplinary approach Thorbjorg Sveinsdottir - Children´s house

repeated interviews conducted by many interviewers in different locations...discrepancies in disclosure children in rural areas did not get appropriate assessment, treatment and support revictimization / retraumatisation Thorbjorg Sveinsdottir - Children´s house

The investigation generated painful experiences for the child Thorbjorg Sveinsdottir - Children´s house

Not to harm the child! To facilitate cooperation between the CPS, Police, Prosecution, Court judges and the Health Services in child sexual abuse cases To conduct valid interviews of children in forensic contexts and for the CPS To ensure that the child victim receives appropriate assessment, treatment and support Thorbjorg Sveinsdottir - Children´s house

Child sexual abuse from ages 3 ½ - 18 years. Joint forensic interviews CPS prelimanery forensic interviews Medical examination Victim therapy and famely counseling Thorbjorg Sveinsdottir - Children´s house

The importance of a “child friendly” setting The interview protocol (to avoid suggestibility and increase reliability) The specialised interviewer: All trained in the USA in forensic interviewing, background in psychology, pedagogy and criminology. Specially designed interview room (closed circuit television) The DVD record: used for different purposes: medical exams, assessment and therapy IT-link to one courthouse Thorbjorg Sveinsdottir - Children´s house

Small room Child friendly Videocamera Information about who are watching Those watching have a change to ask questions through the interviewer

The Court Judge is in charge of the procedure Cases are usually referred to the CPS, then to the police that referres request to the judge for the interview The Court Judge decides where the interview takes place and who interviews the child. Present (in a seperate room) The Prosecution,Police,CPS representative,the Child’s Legal Advocate, the Defence lawyer, the Alleged Offender(exceptional in reality) Thorbjorg Sveinsdottir - Children´s house

At the request of the CPS Disclosure is absent or very weak/ambigous Offender is below the age of criminal responsibility(15 years) Only one staffmember from the CPS present (in a seperate room) Thorbjorg Sveinsdottir - Children´s house

Usually only one interview The Court Judge gets DVD The police gets DVD Children´s house gets DVD The doctors get informations about the interview and can watch the DVD in Children´s house The Therapist gets informations about the interview and can also watch the DVD.

At the request of the Police, the CPS, the Child or the Parents Implemented by experienced paediatrician, a gynaecologist and a nurse A child friendly examination room The use of “video-colposcope” and it´s therapeutic value Anaesthetization exceptional Thorbjorg Sveinsdottir - Children´s house

Victim therapy can start soon after the investigative interview The non-offending parent(s) receive counselling from the child´s therapist Cognitive-behavioural therapy (trauma based, TB-CBT) The therapist is never the same person that takes the investigative interview Therapy is practiced in the countryside if needed The therapist is most often important witness in court proceedings Thorbjorg Sveinsdottir - Children´s house

Number of children Average per year “Investigative interviews” ,5 Treatment822102,75 Medical exam19224

Thorbjorg Sveinsdottir - Children´s house

Between ages years Usually more then five years age different Altogether268 from ,7 % of offenders

Thorbjorg Sveinsdottir - Children´s house Year TotalOmitt- ed % ChargedAcqui- tted Convict- ed

Thorbjorg Sveinsdottir - Children´s house

Research findings from Children´s house (research by Gisli H. Gudjonssen, Jon F. Sigurdsson, Thorbjörg Sveinsdóttir and Jóhanna K. Jónsdóttir) Girls are about 70% and boys 30% of children intervewed About 80% of children in joint investigative interviews (judge) disclose sexual abuse in Children´s house About 25% of children in CPS interviews disclose sexual abuse, mostly conducted by young offenders More than 80% of the children knew the offender The younger the child, the less likely it is to disclose (perhaps both because of developmental issues, but also because of more refferals without former disclosure, etc..child sexual behavior, sexual games) About half of the children disclose that abuse happened once and about half that it happened more than onece, thereof 17% more than ten times Thorbjorg Sveinsdottir - Children´s house

Children in the two youngest agebands (3 ½-5 and 6- 9) did not disclose abuse on stage 1(sexual talk, kisses on face, touching of none privat parts) and very few on stage 2 (showing nudety,porn, touching of none private parts inside clothes) Most of the violations in those agebands prooved to be on stage 4 (attemting penetration) but none was on stage 5 (sexual intercourse) Violations on stage 5 mostly occurred in the ageband12-14 In the oldest ageband (15-17) almost as many violations were in stages 4 and 5 In the older agebands, some violations were on stages 1, 2 and 3 expecially in ageband 9-11 Thorbjorg Sveinsdottir - Children´s house

Efficient, professional and child – friendly work procedures and case management Re-victimization of the child victim minimised Appropriate therapeutic services secured Mutual professional trust among the different agencies Assimilation of knowledge and experience Increased public awareness and confidence in the authorities Increased “rate of discovery” Thorbjorg Sveinsdottir - Children´s house

The process was stressful for the child and immediate family Ineffective system / different systems working individually The process was unpredictable for the child victim and difficult to understand

Thorbjorg Sveinsdottir - Children´s house Reduced stress for the child and immediate family Provide more effective system / holistic approach Cooperation The process is more transparent and comprehensible for the child victim All children in Iceland have the same opportunity, at least to treatment Database Research

Thorbjorg Sveinsdottir - Children´s house