Half a Nation by 2010
By Victor Vieth
In 1998, APRI's National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse launched Finding Words, a forensic interviewing course for law enforcement officers, child protection caseworkers, and prosecutors. The course was modeled after and developed in collaboration with CornerHouse, a child sexual abuse evaluation with training facility in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The response was overwhelming. We received over 400 applications from child abuse professionals hoping to be counted among the first group of forty students admitted to the course. In an effort to meet the demand, we increased the course offerings from one to three per year but still found that the demand for admission exceeded the supply of courses.
Finding Words: the course
Designed by and for the front line child abuse professional, Finding Words brings the world of academia into the street. Each student receives extensive homework assignments. The assignments force students to become well versed in pertinent literature regarding linguistics, child development, and memory and suggestibility.
Each student watches numerous videotaped child sexual abuse interviews. Applying the knowledge gained from the homework and workshops, students analyze the interviews and discuss whether the interviewer made any errors and, if so, how to defend the interview in court. No videotaped interview of a child abuse victim is shown without the permission of the victim's parents or guardian. As a further safeguard of the victim's privacy, each Finding Words student makes a written pledge to hold in confidence the child's experiences.
In addition to completing homework and attending workshops, Finding Words students are required to step up to the plate and demonstrate their skills. Each student interviews a child about a non-abuse event, such as a trip to the zoo and then gets critiqued on the use of developmentally and linguistically appropriate questions.
In the last two days of the course, the 40 students are divided into 4 groups and given 10 fictitious reports of child sexual abuse. Working as a team, the students chart out a game plan for the interview. Where is the child likely functioning developmentally? What cultural or other barriers may the child have? What is the child's likely attention span? What information is essential to obtain?
Once the game plan is determined, each student conducts a forensic interview with a child sexual abuse victim. The "victims" are portrayed by adult actors and actresses who are not only skilled performers but who themselves have gone through training on child development and the responses children often have to sexual abuse. Because of the quality of the performers, this exercise goes beyond role-playing and is the closest possible simulation of a real forensic interview.
When the interview is complete, the interviewer receives ten oral and written critiques. The other nine group members critique the interview, as does the professional interviewer assigned to that group. The exercise is videotaped to allow the interviewer to further assess his or her abilities.
In order to receive course credit, each student is required to take and pass an essay exam. The exam covers child development, linguistics, memory and suggestibility and other topics prosecutors and interviewers may have to explain in court.
To date, approximately 280 students have successfully completed Finding Words. The cards, letters, e-mails and other contacts we have with the graduates confirm the worth of our efforts. Cases that would not have been prosecuted or that might have been lost are now going forward. children are being saved.
In the words of one prosecutor who completed the course, "our team is now taking the information we learned at the conference, and using it to build cases that support our victims, so that we will never have to go into the courtroom again (hopefully) knowing that the entire case is resting on the victim's shoulders. Our team has really come together...I could go on for pages about all the changes we are making, but I will cut it short. Suffice it to say that I am very excited about what we are doing, and I believe our enthusiasm is catching."
Another prosecutor writes of a child victim who appeared to be recanting on the witness stand. According to the prosecutor, "if not for Finding Words, I would have panicked. To tell the truth, I did panic. But not outwardly. I took a deep breath and remembered what I learned at Finding Words: be patient, simplify your questions, approach the subject form another angle...The point is this: I used what I learned in Finding Words. The defendant was found guilty. This result would not have been possible if I did not have the benefit of the course."
A social worker wrote simply "I just attended the Finding Words training in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I want to thank you for presenting the first meaningful training that I have ever been to...It is exciting to be able to take home something that you have learned and actually apply it."
Unfortunately, hundreds of child abuse professionals have been turned away from the course because we simply cannot meet the demand. Out of this tragedy was born the vision of Half a Nation by 2010.
Half a Nation by 2010
The goal of APRI's National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse is to establish in half of the states a high quality, five day forensic interviewing course modeled after Finding Words. The concept is patterned after Minnesota where 85 out of 87 counties have received training through our partnering agent, CornerHouse. We intend to work with state and local officials and child abuse professionals to develop state of the art courses that are tailored to the unique dynamics of individual states.
In this way, state investigators and prosecutors will have a shared basis of knowledge and a protocol most likely to be accepted in their jurisdiction.
South Carolina to serve as test project
South Carolina will be the first state to take advantage of this opportunity. Partnering with the Children's Law Office (CLO), a program of the University of South Carolina Law School, and the Assessment and Resource Center (ARC),m a nationally accredited Children's Advocacy Center, we have designed a comprehensive plan that will leave South Carolina with a forensic interview training program that is second to none.
Seven members of the CLO and ARC attended and successfully completed Finding Words. The protocol and interviewing techniques taught at Finding Words are now being implemented in actual forensic interviews in Columbia, South Carolina.
In March, NCPCA and CornerHouse will present Finding Words in South Carolina. Local officials will select the students consistent with our guidelines.3 Working with NCPCA and CornerHouse, the Children's Law Office will then develop a state-specific application of the course.
In August, CLO and ARC will present Finding Words primarily using South Carolina faculty and actors while NCPCA and CornerHouse staffs observe and critique the course. In October, CLO and ARC will present the course again and seek the final NCPCA endorsement.
If the plan succeeds, Finding Words South Carolina will have been launched. The state will begin with a base of approximately 90 highly trained forensic interviewers and the CLO and ARC will continue to run the course to meet the needs of the state's child abuse professionals. NCPCA will continue to monitor the course, grade the tests, collect course evaluations and otherwise ensure compliance with the standard of excellence established by Finding Words.
Proposals now being accepted
APRI's National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse is now considering proposals from prosecutor associations, child advocacy centers, or other groups interested in establishing a permanent, top lf the line forensic interview training course for their state. We intend to partner with two states in the year 2002 and, if resources permit, to accelerate the program in the years ahead until the goal of Half a Nation is no longer a dream. There is no outright rejection of any state that desires to be part of the program. We will work with the states not chosen in order to improve their proposal and speed the day Half a Nation will come to their community.
We will accept proposals for 2002 programs until September 1, 2001 and will announce our selections within 60 days thereafter. To obtain a proposal packet, call NCPCA at (703) 739-0321.
Conclusion
Half a Nation by 2010 will not only hold abusers accountable, it will prevent abuse altogether. Each year, thousands of children are reported into the system as likely victims. When investigators are unable to recognize and empower hurting children to overcome the clocks to disclosing, many actual cases of abuse are unsubstantiated and a sea of little ones are returned to homes where further abuse, even death is inevitable.
President Kennedy once told of a boy who threw his hat over a high wall so that he would have no choice but to follow. APRI's National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse has tossed its hat over the wall of justice and we have no choice but to follow. Though ambitious and fraught with obstacles, the successful scaling of this wall will mean that children reported into the system will be better able to share their experiences and that some who would have died will live.
Let us begin the climb.
Director, APRI's National Center for the Prosecution of Child Abuse
All of the videotaped examples are of interviews conducted by CornerHouse forensic interviewers.
We expect the students to be members of a multi-disciplinary team and to apply together. The most important member of the team is the prosecutor. This is because of a forensic interview revealing sexual abuse is meaningless unless the prosecutor can use the information in court.
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