1. Child Investigative Interviewing: Everything You Need To know
Laura Merchant, MSW HCSATS

2. Quick Overview Counties have protocols for Child Abuse investigations
Where criminal prosecution is involved, each child will receive an investigative interview
Each county determines who gets the investigative interview and who conducts the interview

3. County Protocols
Each county is required to have a protocol on investigations of child abuse cases.
Protocols are developed with partners: Prosecutors, LE, DSHS, medical, advocacy, schools (optional)
Protocols are maintained by each prosecuting attorney’s office. They are required to be updated every 2 years.
Protocols address all aspects of the investigation, emphasizes a coordinated approach and specifies roles of each of the key partners

4. Who Interviews?
Each county follows their County Protocol, identifying expectations for interviewers LE
CPS workers
Child Interview Specialists hired via CAC’s or Prosecuting Attorney’s Offices
Many counties conduct initial interviews with referrals to the official investigative interview as indicated

5. Differences Between Investigative Interviews and Preliminary Interviews
DSHS goal is to assess risk/safety and find enough information to refer for Investigative Interview
LE goal is to assess if there is reason to suspect a crime.
Both gather enough information about the crime and then refer for the forensic/investigative interview
Seen as the “official” interview for children typically between the ages of 4 – 15)
CPS or DSHS interview may be considered the “official” interview in places where they clearly function in that capacity
More often, Child interview Specialists conduct these interviews

6. Training Requirements for Interviewers
Interviewers are required to receive the statewide multi-disciplinary Investigative Interview training that includes interview skills practice and information on developmental disabilities
Statewide training occurs about 5 times per year and is 4 days long for CPS and 5 days long for LE and child interview specialists

7. Statewide Interview Training
Incorporates research on children’s memory and suggestibility and on effective interview practices
Emphasis on asking open ended questions that lead to narrative/comprehensive answers from children
Information comes primarily from the child, not the interviewer
Ground rules are taught to increase reliability of information
Skills practice is essential in improving practice
Child interviewers in the field are used as “facilitators” to provide expert feedback to participants in skills practice

8. Statewide Interview Training
Training is recommended to be taken every few years as research informs practice and training changes to incorporate best practice
Peer Review is offered 10 times per year
Booster trainings are available as “Advanced” trainings

9. Peer Review Meetings Offered approximately every other month
3 hours per meeting
1 ½ hour: lecture/discussion on a related topic
1 ½ hour: DVD/transcript review with feedback
Agencies host the meeting
Members identify topics and sign up to present a case for review
Local communities sometimes also do their own peer review

10. The Interviews
Key Components

11. WA State Child Interview Guide
Based on the NICHD protocol
A structured forensic interview protocol that has been shown to improve the quality and informativeness of investigative interviews with children. Child Abuse & Neglect, Volume 31, Issues 11-12, November-December 2007, Pages ; Michael E. Lamb, Yael Orbach, Irit Hershkowitz, Phillip W. Esplin and Dvora Horowitz
NICHD is the most researched in the world with over 40,000 real-life interviews

12. NICHD Protocol
Designed to improve quality & amount of info obtained in investigative interviews
Enhances ability of children to report accurately using open-ended prompts to access free recall memory (which is the most accurate)
Teaches children to provide narrative accounts (they are not accustomed to doing)
Minimizes the risk of contaminating the child’s account

13. Research Results
NICHD guided interviews elicited more info using open-ended prompts and less info using option-posing and suggestive questions than did std. interviews
In 89% of the protocol interviews, children made their preliminary allegations in response to open-ended prompts, compared with 36% in the standard interviews

14. Professor of Law & Psychology at USC:
10 Step Investigative Interview Adaptation of NICHD Protocol Thomas D. Lyon, J.D., Ph.D. © 2005 (version 2)
Professor of Law & Psychology at USC:
Tom Lyon in CA has adapted the NICHD protocol and teaches it in locations throughout CA: 3 major sections =
Instructions
“Ignorant interviewer” instruction: “I d/n/k what happened to you and won’t be able to tell you the answers to my questions.”
“I d/n/k” instruction (w/practice saying ““I d/n/k” and question such as “Do you have a dog?’ followed by “OK, you DO know that.”)
“I d/n understand” instruction, w/practice: e.g., “What is your gender?’ reinforcing when child says does not know what you mean – “Good, I’ll ask it a different way – are you a girl or a boy?”
You’re wrong - Correct the interviewer instruction
“Warming up” (includes practice narratives)
Disclosure phase

15. Stages of an Interview Introduction Ground rules/instructions
Narrative practice  
Transition  
Substantive  
Closure

18. Introduction Name Your job Anyone watching or in the room AND
Explanation of documentation

19. “Ground Rules” Instructions Expectations for the Interview “Orienting” Child to Interview

20. Rationale for Ground Rules
Increase accuracy
Decrease inclination to guess
Increase willingness to ask for clarification
Increase resistance to suggestion

21. Early in the interview to set the expectations
Ground Rules
One at a time
Simple language
Explain and practice
Early in the interview to set the expectations
Reinforce throughout
Rationale: Children seek adult approval and may guess, assume adult knows what happened, or think they must give an answer
Benefits (proven by research):
Increase accuracy
Reduce child’s inclination to guess
Increase child’s willingness to ask for clarification
Increase resistance to suggestion
Instructions aren’t a panacea & won’t guarantee that a child will follow them, but they DO help; less effective with younger children, but still worth a try; suggestive interviewing can easily overtake positive effects of instructions
Do it correctly though – be slow & methodical or they won’t help
Give instructions with feedback/reinforcement for them to be effective - Explain permissible responses, BUT ALSO check child’s understanding and ability to follow

22. Most important, research-based ground rules
‘Don’t guess’
Don’t understand - ‘Tell me if you don’t know what I mean’
‘Correct me if I make a mistake’
Un-informed interviewer - ‘I wasn’t there’

23. Instruction: Don’t Guess
Explain and use examples:
“If I ask you a question and you don’t know the answer, then just say ‘I don’t know.’ Don’t guess.”
Q: “So if I ask you, ‘What’s my cat’s name?’ what do you say?”
A: “I don’t know.”
Q: “Okay, because you don’t know.
Q: “But what if I ask, “Do you have a dog?”
“Okay, because you do know.”
Supported by the research:
Instruction alone doesn't have an effect
Must use examples
Use an example where answer is “I d/n/k” AND one where they DO know, or they’ll think “I d/n/k” is a great answer all the time after you reinforce them

24. Truth/Lie Discussions
Promise to tell truth
Competency assessment

25. Why include the promise?
Reinforces seriousness
Increases honesty (decreases lies)
Responses can give you valuable info

26. Promise “It’s very important that you tell me the truth.”
“Do you promise that you will tell me the truth?”
“Are you going to tell me any lies?”
Exact language is important: children under 5 often don’t know what the word “promise” means (Lyon’s research), but adding word “will tell the truth” makes this something they understand
Eliciting a promise to tell the truth seems to increase accuracy in children, EVEN WHEN it seems they don’t understand the words “truth” and “lie”
(Ensuring that they know the difference doesn’t seem to result in any increased accuracy in their responses, so Lyon now doesn’t include the assessment of their understanding of the terms; he thinks we’re not very good at assessing their understanding)

27. Competency Assessment
Decide if it is necessary to do it during the investigative interview
If you do it, can now be done via simpler, revised 1-card version, or through scenario example
Prior way: To do 4 T/L examples to show child knows the difference between a truth and a lie and 4 morality examples

28. http://works. bepress. com/cgi/viewcontent. cgi

30. Simplified task for asking children about the meaning of "truth" (Lyon, Carrick, & Quas, 2010; under review)
Show the child the picture on the next page and point at the truck.
Ask: “What is this?”
When the child responds “truck,” say: “Okay, that’s a truck. This girl [point to the girl] looks at the truck and says, ‘That’s a plane.’”
Ask the child, “Did the girl tell the truth?”
If you are concerned that a very young child has not yet clearly acquired an articulable concept of “truth,” you could simply point at the truck and ask:
“Is that a plane?”

32. Competency Assessment
Scenario example to demonstrate child’s understanding of concept
“Joe ate all the cookies. Joe’s Mom asked if he ate the cookies and Joe said ‘No, the dog ate the cookies.’ What’s Joe doing?”

33. Rapport/Narrative Practice
Key to reinforcing the expectation of answering questions in a narrative manner rather than in short answer response.
Exploring an event from beginning to end
Opportunity to practice open ended questions, sensory focused questions, pairing forced choice or closed questions with open ended follow ups; using facilitators
Opportunity for child to practice answering in more complete sentences

34. Narrative Practice
More important that more typical “getting acquainted” questions where info is initially generated from the interviewer
More important than more traditional “developmental assessment” questions as narrative practice will help an interviewer assess child’s developmental ability, take less time, and gets them used to providing more comprehensive information

35. Narrative Practice Keep it open-ended!
Use facilitators (“uh-huh,” “ok”)
Use child’s name frequently
5 minutes is sufficient

36. Pattern of Questions Separate Separation of incidents
Invite Open-ended invitations
Elaborate Request to elaborate Open-ended follow-ups
Focus
Time Time segmentation questions
Senses Sensory focus questions
Key Facts Focused prompts, paired with open-ended follow-ups
Clarify and elaborate

37. Transition to Substantive Information
Use open ended questions
Use funnel approach as needed
Use pattern of questions as practiced in the neutral narrative section of the interview
Do not introduce body drawings or touch continuum to as transitions to the substantive portion of the interview

38. First Transition Attempt
“Tell me why you came to talk to me.” OR
“Tell me why I came to talk to you.”
If no response to “Tell me why…” then gently say, “It’s really important for me to know why you came to talk to me.”
Does this work? Research consistently finds (Lamb & Lyon) that at least half of children who disclose abuse do so by the time you pose the “Tell me why…” request

39. “It’s really important for me to know why you came to talk to me.”
If no response to “Tell me why…” then gently say, “It’s really important for me to know why you came to talk to me.”
Does this work? Research consistently finds (Lamb & Lyon) that at least half of children who disclose abuse do so by the time you pose the “Tell me why…” request

40. Transitions
“What did [your mom] tell you about why I want to talk to you today?”
“Did anyone tell you anything about why you’re here today?” “What did they tell you?
“Why do you think I want to talk to you today?”
“I understand something might have happened – tell me what happened.”

41. When there’s been a prior statement
Transitions
When there’s been a prior statement
“I heard you talked to ________ about something that happened. Tell me what happened.”
“I heard you saw _____ last week. Tell me what you talked about.”
You’re still saying nothing at all about the alleged abuse, just referring to a prior statement.

42. Transitions When that doesn’t work ‘Someone’s worried’
“Is [your mom] worried about something that happened? Tell me what she’s worried about.”

43. Transitions When that doesn’t work ‘Bothered You’
“I heard someone might have bothered you. Tell me everything about that.”

44. ‘Something wasn’t right’
Transitions
When that doesn’t work
‘Something wasn’t right’
“I heard someone may have done something that wasn’t right. Tell me everything about that.”
Each question gets a bit more specific and gets closer to the abuse allegation but none of these actually suggests abuse or sexual touching, and none names the suspect
Many more children will respond & tell abt./ abuse with these non-suggestive prompts
If no disclosure up to this point, then you have to consider whether to go further; van be a tricky question b/c more direct Qs raise possibility of a false allegation
Stop & think abt. risk to child if you stop w/o an allegation
Is it possible that you & child just haven’t hit it off enough for the child to feel comfortable telling you?
Can you try another time or with someone else?
Helps a lot to write out these questions ahead of time
If you know child has been placed in P.C., you can ask, “Where do you live?” and “Tell me about that.”
You can try something like: “I heard something about ‘daycare’/’your mom’(when mom murdered for ex.)/’something that happened to you’/etc..”

45. Pattern of Questions Separate Separation of incidents
Invite Open-ended invitations
Elaborate Request to elaborate Open-ended follow-ups
Focus
Time Time segmentation questions
Senses Sensory focus questions
Key Facts Focused prompts, paired with open-ended follow-ups
Clarify and elaborate

46. Clarify Frequency Clarify multiple events right away
“Did [______] happen one time or more than one time?”
Ask for description of specific incidents – last time, first time, another time, “the time you remember the most”

47. Once a Child Reports Abuse
Use “facilitators” – “okay” /“Uh-huh”
Don’t interrupt a narrative
Clarify later (using notes to remind you):
“You said _____. Tell me what you mean by _____.”
OR “
Tell me who ____ is.”

48. Use of Tools/Media Use only after verbal reports have been elicited
Continue to request verbal clarification & details in the child’s own words
Use least suggestive tools

49. Closure Summarize, clarify Invite questions
Explaining what will happen next
Discuss “safety plan”
Thank the child
Switch to a neutral topic
Provide interviewer’s contact information
Typical components of the closure phase of an interview:
Summary & clarification
Anything else child wants interviewer to know, or to ask?
Safety plan discussion
No promises
Thank child for effort, not content
Address next steps as appropriate
Offer business card & invite to call
End on neutral note

50. Safety Plan “Who can you tell if you are worried about something?”
“Name 3 people you could tell if something bad happened.”
“Who can you get help from if you are hurt, or if something bad or scary happens to you?”
“Why do you think ____ can help you?”
“What can ____ do to help you?”