APRI Highlights - Spring 2004

Kansas and Ohio Join the Half-a-Nation Family

Applications for 2006 now being accepted.

The need for quality forensic interview training cannot be questioned. Untold numbers of children are reported into the system but, because of inadequately trained interviewers, they are unable to disclose their victimization. As a result, too many cases are “unsubstantiated” and children are sent back into harm’s way.

In 1998, APRI and CornerHouse Interagency Child Abuse Evaluation and Training Center (CornerHouse) entered into an historic relationship to provide the nation with quality forensic interview training. The partnership began with the course Finding Words. This intensive, five-day course proved to be so popular that limited capacity forced APRI to turn away nearly 90 percent of those seeking admittance.

To address this situation, APRI launched a new initiative entitled Half a Nation by 2010. The goal of the project is to create locally run and taught forensic interview training programs in 25 states by the end of the decade. The course is up and running or will soon be approved in the following states: Minnesota (CornerHouse program), South Carolina, Indiana, New Jersey, Mississippi, Georgia, Missouri, Maryland, Illinois, and West Virginia. Kansas and Ohio were recently admitted into the project, and APRI is accepting applications for states interested in completing the project in 2005 or 2006.

The National Child Protection Training Center at Winona State University will add important resources to the Half a Nation project. This year, we will publish two newsletters dealing exclusively with the project and providing valuable information on forensic interviewing issues. We will also establish by July an e-mail list for graduates of the national or state Finding Words courses to converse about emerging issues in the field.

For more information about the Half a Nation by 2010 project, contact APRI’s National Child Protection Training Center at (507) 457-2890 or (703) 549-4253.