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GUIDANCE ON INTERVIEWING CHILD WITNESSES IN SCOTLAND - Supporting Child Witnesses Guidance Pack
PART TWO BACKGROUND
Aims of the guidance
5 The guidance focuses primarily on practices used by police and social work for gathering information and evidence during the investigative phase of criminal cases, with the aim of improving the quality of investigative interviewing. It also contains good practice for any organisation involved in interviewing children, whether it be part of a criminal or civil case or in other circumstances. Similarly, while many of the examples in this guidance refer to child sexual abuse cases, the procedures described in this document should be used with any type of case involving child witnesses. Note, children may be questioned by other professionals at other times in the legal process, e.g. in court. The methods used by such professionals should also serve to safeguard children's welfare whilst facilitating best evidence - see Ellison (2001) for example.
6 It aims to provide a clear outline of the purposes of investigative interviews and of the procedures and techniques that comprise current best practice.
7 It must be stressed that each child and their circumstances are unique, therefore interviews should be tailored according to the individual child and situation. However, this guidance provides a flexible interview framework that may be applied and adapted for use with all child witnesses. It may also be useful with persons classified as vulnerable witnesses 2 and people aged 16 and 17 years old who are subject to supervision requirements regarding SCRA proceedings.
Definition of the 'Investigative Interview'
An investigative interview is "a formal, planned interview with a child, carried out by staff trained and competent to conduct it, for the purposes of gaining the child's account of events (if any) which require investigation".
8 This guidance is concerned with the formal interviews carried out primarily for evidential and risk assessment purposes. Although children may first approach those people who are around them daily (e.g. teachers, parents) to communicate their worries, these discussions are not to be confused with the investigative interview. If a child does spontaneously disclose information - outside of the formal context - of a nature that might require investigation by the authorities, the receiver should: (i) listen, and support the child; (ii) make a written record of the child's remarks in their words as soon afterwards and as accurate as possible; and (iii) seek help from the appropriate agencies. Professionals working in such areas as education and health, for example, should follow the procedures set out in their local Child Protection Committee guidelines.
9 Disclosures of incidents such as sexual or physical abuse might also occur unexpectedly during counselling or assessment sessions, held to address other issues (e.g. behavioural problems the child has been displaying at school). Discussions within these settings should not be confused with investigative interviews. Nor should investigative interviews be confused with interviews conducted for therapeutic purposes (see paragraph 15 Investigative versus therapeutic goals and techniques).
10 The process surrounding an investigative interview will have several phases. From contacts with the main agencies and organisations involved, it is clear that the terminology currently used varies across areas and professional groups. Ideally, there should be a common terminology so that the processes and procedures adopted and in place are readily understood across all disciplines and organisations.
11 There are a number of possible triggers for an investigative interview. A key one is a child protection referral. In all such cases, the first step should be for all those involved (generally police and social work but also, for example and where appropriate, health professionals) to undertake initial referral checks. It is important at this stage that any other professionals with an interest are drawn into the process.
12 Thereafter, the following sets out the various steps that should be taken.
- Initial referral discussion (sometimes called a strategy discussion) - this may identify further information needed or that further checks need to be carried out. Or it may identify an immediate risk, in which case urgent action will be needed and should be taken - involving emergency powers/child protection orders.
- (If needed and if no immediate risk has been identified) a full case discussion and planning meeting involving all the agencies - at which risks may be re-assessed and initial plans would be drawn up. Such plans would cover the handling of the interview. It may also be appropriate to plan at this stage for a medical examination. That would involve either a Comprehensive Medical Assessment where concerns are raised about possible physical abuse and neglect or a Joint Paediatric/Forensic examination to gather medical and forensic evidence in cases of alleged sexual abuse and cases of significant physical injury. (More detail on the Comprehensive Medical Assessment and the Joint Paediatric/Forensic examination are given in the Scottish Executive publication, Protecting Children a Shared Responsibility, Guidance for Health Professionals in Scotland, January 2000.)
- Pre-interview briefing meeting - to ensure that those who undertake the interview are fully aware of all the issues.
- The investigative interview will then take place.
- This should always be followed by a de-briefing meeting. This will allow those involved fully to explore and assess the information received.
- That, in turn, will direct the final stage. This will generally involve:
- A child protection conference which will decide whether to register the child on the Child Protection Register and will formulate a child protection plan.
- In some cases further, there may also be grounds for interviewing suspects prior to a report to the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration or the Procurator Fiscal - or possibly both.
13 The main purposes of the investigative interview are as follows:
- to learn the child's account of the circumstances that prompted the enquiry
- to gather information to permit decision making on whether the child in question, or any other child, is in need of protection
- to establish whether a crime has been committed.
14 The joint paediatric forensic examination has some overlap with the investigative interview and the general principles laid out in this document may be relevant to paediatricians and police surgeons. They will also be applicable to interviews conducted by precognoscers.
Investigative versus therapeutic goals and techniques
15 It is important to make a distinction between an investigative interview and therapy. Research shows that procedures that might make sense in therapeutic settings (e.g. playroom environment, direct questioning about pain/harm) are not always suitable for investigative interviews (see Poole & Lamb, 1998). Therapy-focused interviews may compromise the investigative function. A therapy-focused approach (e.g. clinical approach to interviewing) should therefore not be adopted in an investigative interview. That is not to say an investigative interview should not include certain qualities also common in a therapeutic interview, i.e. empathy and being sensitive to children's feelings and emotional reactions to questions. Indeed, the child may find the interview to be a therapeutic experience.
The guidance and training
16 This guidance is only the first step to improving interviewing in child protection cases. To ensure best practice is actually implemented and maintained, the various agencies involved will need to devise compatible joint training programmes and review strategies, which must be kept up-to-date. To ensure consistency across Scotland, we recommend that a standardised national model to be developed centrally by ACPOS and the Social Care Council, creating a National Training Curriculum. This curriculum should then be delivered to police officers and social workers on a localised basis. This will require considerable collaboration on both a professional and personal level. Training will be necessary not only for those persons who will conduct the interviews, but also management and supervisors who will oversee the investigations. Through training the different agencies can appreciate and respect each other's professional roles and responsibilities. The identification of shared goals and collaboration will strengthen the links between police and social work.
17 This guidance document should thus be used in conjunction with a suitable programme of training or a national curriculum based on the guidance set out in this document. We advise an intensive programme of training. The training should provide appropriate background information concerning all the topics set out in this document. There should also be ample opportunity to practice and obtain feedback on the techniques set out below. Practice interviews should be video-recorded and reviewed to provide examples of good and bad practice. Of course, much learning will be done during actual interviews in real life cases. Therefore, following training, there should be ongoing monitoring, supervision and refresher courses to assess how well procedures learnt in training have been implemented in the field, and to allow a two-way sharing of information between practitioners and training staff.
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