Guidance on Interviewing Child Witnesses in Scotland - Supporting Child Witnesses Guidance Pack

1. Prepare the interview setting

ensure there will be no interruptions (e.g. unplug telephones)
remove any distracting material
ensure adequate seating and equipment are available and laid out in a "child-friendly" arrangement

2. Introductions

introduce yourself to the child, giving name, occupation and role (in a general way; don't mention words such as "risk" and "child protection")
explain that the interview will be recorded
obtain child's consent to interview, if have not already done so
allow child to settle; have brief "icebreaker" chat about neutral event (e.g. journey there)
avoid mentioning the allegation and avoid instilling any stereotypes about the alleged perpetrator

3. Establish the ground rules

the child will do most of the talking
the interviewer wasn't there so needs the child's help to understand what happened
it is OK to say "I don't know/remember/understand" and to correct the interviewer when they get something wrong
the child should not guess, or make up any answers. They should always tell the truth (i.e. what they know from having seen with their own eyes, heard with their own ears, etc.)
if questions are repeated this does not mean the child's first answer was wrong or thought to be a lie

4. Reminders for interviewer

the interview should follow the child's pace
be tolerant of pauses; don't interrupt the child
be aware of signs of fatigue or loss of concentration. Let the child know how long the interview might take and when breaks will be available
keep an open mind

5. Complete rapport building with a practice interview

ask the child to recall a neutral personally-experienced event (e.g. a holiday)
tell them to report everything they remember about the event from beginning to end
avoid specific questions
encourage a spontaneous narrative from the child using facilitators, e.g. "That sounds interesting, tell me more."

6. Raising topic of concern

7. Free narrative

encourage a spontaneous account from the child using general probes, e.g. "Tell me everything you can about that."
use open-ended prompts to follow when the child has finished speaking, e.g. "And then what happened?"
also use facilitators to keep the narrative flowing, e.g. "uh huh", "so [repeat what the child has just said]".

8. Questioning

refer back to things that the child has mentioned previously in free narrative
try to determine whether the episode of abuse was single or repeated
try to cover the sequence of topics in the same order as the child raised them
use the least direct/specific types of questions wherever possible
clarify any ambiguities, inconsistencies, or unfamiliar terms/names used by the child, in a way that does not imply suspicion, disbelief or mockery

9. Closure

The Scottish Government