Children's disclosures of sexual abuse: Learning from direct inquiry
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Child sexual abuse
Interview
This article describes the evolution of forensic interviewing as a method to determine whether or not a child has been sexually abused, focusing primarily on the United States. It notes that forensic interviewing practices are challenged to successfully identify children who have been sexually abused and successfully exclude children who have not been sexually abused. It describes models for child sexual abuse investigation, early writings and practices related to child interviews, and the development of forensic interview structures from scripted, to semi-structured, to flexible. The article discusses the controversies related appropriate questions and the use of media (e.g., anatomical dolls and drawings). It summarizes the characteristics of four important interview structures and describes their impact of the field of forensic interviewing. The article describes forensic interview training and the challenge of implementing training in forensic practice. The article concludes with a summary of progress and remaining controversies and with future challenges for the field of forensic interviewing.
Interview
Child sexual abuse
Forensic psychology
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Acknowledgements. Introduction. 1.What is child sexual abuse? 2. The development of children's sexuality. 3. Child sexual abusers. 4. Child sexual abuse and the Internet. 5. The grooming of children. 6. The impact of child sexual abuse on the child. 7. The signs and symptoms of child sexual abuse. 8. Understanding the sexually abused child. 9. Protecting children from child sexual abuse in the community. 10. The prevention of child sexual abuse. Appendix I. Useful websites. Appendix II. Glossary of Internet terms. References. Index.
Child sexual abuse
Glossary
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The quality of a representative sample of 43 forensic interviews with alleged victims (aged 3 – 8 years) of child sexual abuse (CSA) in Finland was investigated. Interviews were coded for type of interviewer utterance, type of child response, details in the child response and number of words in each utterance. Option-posing, specific suggestive and unspecific suggestive question types comprised almost 50% of all interviewer utterances. The interviewers continued to rely on leading and suggestive questions even after the child had provided significant information, i.e., interviewers failed to follow-up information provided by the child in an adequate way. Longer questions (in number of words) often rendered no reply from the child, whereas shorter questions rendered descriptive answers. Interviewers seemed to fail in discussing the topic of sexual abuse in an appropriate way, frequently employing long and vague unspecific suggestive utterances.
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Child sexual abuse
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Summary In investigative interviews, it is vital that children request clarification when necessary so that crucial legal decisions can take into account the most accurate and detailed information. In the present study, 91 investigative interview transcripts about suspected child sexual abuse were coded to answer these research questions: (i) How often and how do children request clarification in investigative interviews? (ii) What factors (age, alleged abuse frequency, interviewer prompt type) are associated with children's requests? and (iii) How do interviewers respond to clarification requests, and are these interventions associated with relevant responses from children? Children rarely requested clarification, although, as expected, older children made more requests. Most requests were explicit (e.g., What do you mean?) and in response to invitation prompts. Question ‘rephrasing’ was the most common interviewer intervention regardless of child age. Results have implications for interviewing children in various contexts and for advancing our understanding of children's cognitive and communicative development. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Interview
Cognitive interview
Child sexual abuse
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More than 2.4 million cases of child abuse were reported in the 48 states and the District of Columbia in 1989.1 Of these, 55% were classified as neglect, 30% as physical abuse, 16% as sexual abuse, and 8% as emotional maltreatment.1 These percentages include cases in which more than one type of abuse was reported. Common manifestations of child abuse include bruises; burns; and central nervous system, intra-abdominal (blunt as well as penetrating), and genital injuries. Unusual manifestations of child abuse have included sudden infant death syndrome, apnea, poisonings, and bizarre illnesses stemming from Munchausen syndrome by proxy. In recent years, there has been a marked increase in the number of reported cases of child abuse, especially sexual abuse.
Munchausen syndrome
Physical abuse
Psychological abuse
Evisceration (ophthalmology)
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Physical abuse
Child sexual abuse
Victimology
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Introduction. 1. History and Ideas. 2. Developing a Response to Child Sexual Abuse. 3. Aims and Methodology. 4. Setting the Scene. 5. The Cases. 6. Investigating Child Sexual Abuse. 7. Protecting Children and Helping Families - The Child Protection Conference. 8. Ongoing Work with Families in the Six-Month Period following the Conference. 9. Two Years On from the Initial Conference. 10. Social Work Practice and Child Sexual Abuse. 11. Managing Child Sexual Abuse: Policy Issues. Appendix 1: The Forty Case Studies, by Category. Appendix 2: View from the Parents. References. Index.
Child sexual abuse
Child Protection
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Because a diagnosis of sexual abuse is usually made from the interview with the victim, this interview is the most crucial part of the assessment. However, it is sometimes very difficult. Many children will not want to to talk about the sexual abuse, and the interview can be traumatic for the child, particularly if the interviewer has to press the child in order to gather the information. The goal of the evaluator is to get the child to disclose as much as possible about the sexual abuse while causing the minimum of trauma to the child.
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Child sexual abuse
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Contents Foreword * Preface * Sexual Abuse of Children: Enduring Issues for Social Work * Child Sexual Abuse in Historical Perspective * Social Work and the Sexual Oppression of Youth * Knowns and Unknowns in Sexual Abuse of Children * Treating Child Sexual Abuse: An Overview of Current Program Models * Clinical Issues in Child Sexual Abuse * Family Treatment of Child Sexual Abuse * The Child Molester: Clinical Observations * Child Sexual Abuse and the Courts: Preliminary Findings * Management and Treatment of Child Sexual Abuse Cases in a Juvenile Court Setting * Sexual Abuse and Sexual Education in Child-Caring Institutions
Child sexual abuse
Psychological abuse
Sexual Violence
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This article describes the state of knowledge about extended assessments/forensic evaluations in situations of possible sexual abuse. It provides a critical review of the modest body of relevant research, describes two models for extended assessments, and presents descriptive survey findings of 62 professionals conducting extended assessments, most of whom conduct extended assessments intermittently as part of their other work on sexual abuse cases. Agencies should consider conducting extended assessments with young or traumatized children whose sexual abuse allegations are not resolved with a single interview as well as in complex child sexual abuse cases.
Child sexual abuse
Sexual assault
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