This workshop includes techniques that forensic interviewers, child abuse investigators and legal professionals can use to evaluate the child’s interview based upon his or her statements, behaviors and emotions. While no single factor or characteristic is indicative of abuse, interviewers can utilize several factors within the interview itself to assess the reliability and credibility of a child’s report. Such information may be used to explain the results of an interview in court, or may be used to guide the team members in establishing corroborative factors to support the child’s interview statements.
Learning Objectives:
Participants will understand elements necessary to evaluate the reliability and credibility of a child’s report of abuse
Participants will understand how children experience and talk about violence and victimization and how that information may be presented in court
Professionals will learn techniques and skills to elicit corroborative information from children’s reports
