Child Witnesses

PICTURED ABOVE

Officers should try to have a personable presence when interacting with children, such as allowing them to use their first name or getting down on their level to speak. Pictured opposite, Madison County Deputy Todd Chitwood demonstrates those skills in a photo illustration while talking to a 4-year-old girl at a local park. (Photo by Jim Robertson)

It’s the call law enforcement officers never want to receive. A child has been the victim of a crime. It’s a high-stakes call where, with every step, officers must focus not only on catching a perpetrator but also on protecting the shreds of innocence left in a child victim or witness to trauma.

The tip-offs can come from various sources—sometimes it’s from schools, pediatricians or parents who realize something is wrong with their child’s little friend.

“Everyone in the state of Kentucky is mandated to report if they know or suspect abuse or neglect,” said Jim Root, former Lexington Police officer and Department of Criminal Justice Training instructor. “It gets reported to the Cabinet for Health and Family Services and should also be reported to the police.”

However, handling a case where children are involved requires special skills and efforts throughout to ensure no additional trauma is inflicted on the child—specifically when it comes to interviewing and collecting information from one so young.

The First Right Thing

According to Root, state protocol indicate the preferred method of interviewing children who are victims of or witnesses to crimes is through use of the Children’s Advocacy Center of the Bluegrass (CACBG) with forensic interviewers, specifically trained in working with the young.

DOCJT instructor Jim Root says interviewing children is different because they don’t think like adults. “Children think in times, dates, seasons, their birthdays or whose class they were in,” he said, noting forensic interviews help elicit free-flowing and open-ended answers. (Photo by Jim Robertson)

“Child interviewing is fundamentally different because children don’t think like adults,” explained Root, who spent much of his police career assigned to a crimes against children unit. “They don’t think in a linear fashion. Children think in times, dates, seasons, their birthdays or whose class they were in. So when you ask them questions, it can’t be in the standard interview format of who, what, when, where and why. You never ask why. It doesn’t matter, and it implies blaming the victim. You never want to do that.

“It has to be about the child first and foremost. So no matter what question you ask, you don’t retraumatize the child,” Root added. Questions should always be non-leading and non-suggestive as the goal is to get as much information as possible through free-flowing and open-ended answers that are unbiased.

Children’s Advocacy Center of the Bluegrass

When allegations of abuse or neglect are made to law enforcement or social services, they can call the CACBG and request to set up an interview. 

According to Lindsey Burns, one of the Center’s forensic interviewers, the child will be brought to the CACBG by a non-offending parent or guardian, someone the Cabinet has deemed can be in a caretaking role. An advocate will speak with the caregiver regarding intake information, resources and answer questions, said Burns.

Through closed-circuit cameras at the Children’s Advocacy Center of the Bluegrass, officers can watch forensic interviews as they are conducted. The interviewer will communicate with officers to see if additional questions are needed to improve clarity to the case. (Photo by Jim Robertson)

The child will be taken to a child-friendly room with the forensic interviewer. There is space for an interpreter if one is needed. Burns said closed-circuit recording equipment is set up to capture the interview and an observation room is just outside where officers working the case may watch and listen.

“That way, if we need to check (with them) and see if there are any other questions we need to ask, we can,” she explained. “When we interview a child, we make sure we are being developmentally sensitive and using legally sound structure. We can’t lead the child or give them allegations. Our foundation involves rapport as one of the foundational components ... to make sure the child is comfortable and feels at ease as best as possible as we go about the interview.” 

Afterwards, Burns said the CACBG could provide law enforcement a copy of the interview which can be treated as evidence that can be turned over to prosecutors. 

To make forensic interviews more assessable to families involved in such cases, the Berea Police Department and the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office have set up friendly interview areas within their agencies. This allows CACBG to provide their services closer to families and community partners for whom a drive to Lexington would be a hardship, said Burns.

Forensic Interviewer Lindsey Burnes says the Children’s Advocacy Center of the Bluegrass is designed to be child-friendly. Inside are specific interview rooms geared toward providing comfort, whether the child needs playdough or is a teen needing comfortable chairs and color pencils. (Photo by Jim Robertson)

Why it Works

Forensic cognitive interviewing works because it allows the interviewer to elicit great detail, even from a young victim or witness, by building connections.

“You’re able to get sights, smells and sounds,” said Root. “So say a child says they kept smelling peanuts (at the crime scene), but they don’t know where it was. It just so happens, there is an area there that has a peanut butter factory. Those kinds of details help a police officer determine where something happened.”

Root added that one good thing about forensic interviews is that they give children a chance to correct the interviewer. When he was responsible for conducting forensic interviews for his department, Root said he would always ask questions specifically to let the child set him on the right course and then thank them for correcting him. This allows them to understand they could do so throughout the interview.

“This gets you a better quality of information because he knows he can correct you if you’re wrong,” said Root.

Emergency Contact

In some circumstances, responding officers will find that they must conduct a minimal facts interview with the child. Often this is when the alleged perpetrator is still in the home and poses an imminent threat.

“The minimal facts are just that—we don’t want to retraumatize the child,” said Root. “We aren’t going to get deep into anything. It’s going to get referred to the (Center), so you can just get the nuts and bolts.”

Root advises that officers avoid speaking to children in their bedrooms or their parent’s rooms. Rather, opt for a common room, like the kitchen or living room, where abuse is less likely to occured.

Officers should also try to have a personable presence with the child, such as allowing them to use their first name and getting down on their level to talk to them.

“Talk to kids, use child-appropriate language,” said Root. “Kids are smart, but their language is different than ours. Children will use words that perpetrators use as tools so people can’t find out what’s been going on (such as using pet names for private areas). You don’t want to substitute adult language for what the child said. Whatever the child said, you say because you don’t want them to feel like you’re talking down to them or like they have done something wrong. This could cause them to shut down or change their story. One of the keys to interviewing is just to listen to them.”

Departments are mandated to investigate jointly with the Cabinet for Health and Family Services who’s on-call social worker will respond with the agency to assess if the child or other children in the home need protection or emergency removal from the home.

Managing Mistakes

One mistake to avoid when responding to a crime involving children is touching. It’s completely natural to want to put a hand on a child’s arm or hug them after they have disclosed the most horrible moment in their life. However, Root says an officer should never touch a child because contact is often a method abusers use to manipulate victims.

“Neither should they make promises they can’t keep nor promise to arrest someone — because the case could fall through, and then the promise would be broken,” said Root. “One of the best things to say is, ‘Listen, I’m here to try to help, and I’m sorry this happened to you. These things shouldn’t have happened to you. But my job is to listen to you and see what I can do to help.’” 

Tall Tallies 

In 2014 when Burns began work with the Children’s Advocacy Center of the Bluegrass, about 600 forensic child interviews were conducted. For 2019, Burns said the number had grown to approximately 1,000.

“Unfortunately, there is a great need for the services we offer,” she said, adding that CACBG is able to assist with any case involving children. Other resources outside of interviews include medical examinations and coordination of services, such as therapy.

To see DOCJT’s latest courses on child abuse and sexual assault visit, docjt.ky.gov and click Acadis Scheduling from the Training drop-down menu. For more information on CACBG, visit kykids.org.