An Introduction to Forensic Child Interviews
This resource surveys research and guidance on interviewing child witnesses, including techniques that can distort children’s reports. It discusses reinforcement, peer information, speculation, rapport, and open-ended questioning, then includes studies on interviewer practices, remote interviews, and children’s responses to “I don’t know” instructions.
Child Forensic Interviewing: Best Practices
This United States Department of Justice bulletin consolidates guidance on conducting forensic interviews with children in alleged abuse cases. It discusses interview purpose, preparation, rapport, open-ended questions, interview stages, and team coordination, while emphasizing that children’s accounts and needs differ and that repeated or overly focused questioning can create problems.
COUNTERING Counterintuitive Testimony (Child, handout)
This State Bar of Arizona handout examines testimony about children’s responses and behavior in child sexual abuse cases. It surveys issues including disclosure timing, changing accounts, continued contact, interviewing practices, possible confounds, confirmation bias, and research relevant to evaluating competing explanations.
Forty Years of Forensic Interviewing of Children Suspected of Sexual Abuse, 1974–2014: Historical Benchmarks
This review traces changes in United States forensic interviewing of children suspected of sexual abuse from 1974 through 2014, describing how interview methods developed from scripted formats toward semi-structured and more flexible approaches. It compares major interview models and examines continuing disputes over question types, ground rules, truth-lie exercises, narrative prompts, and the use of drawings or anatomical dolls.
Parent-Child Conversations, Principe and London, 2022
Principe and London review research on how conversations between parents and children can shape children’s memories before formal forensic interviews. They explain how parental questions, suggestions, and shared retellings may influence children’s accounts and discuss implications for interviewing and evaluating young witnesses.
Research on Forensic Child Interviews
This compilation groups research abstracts on forensic child interviews by topics such as memory, interviewing practice, disclosure, false allegations, and courtroom questioning. The cited studies address children’s recall of repeated events, the effects of question wording and cross-examination, and how interview methods can influence the detail and accuracy of children’s reports.
Reviewers of Forensic Child Interviews
This directory identifies professionals who review forensic child interviews to assess whether standards of care were met. It provides brief biographies, credentials, contact details, and areas of experience for the listed reviewers.
Standards for Accredited Members
The National Children’s Alliance’s 2017 standards describe the organizational and practice requirements for accredited Children’s Advocacy Centers, including how centers conduct forensic interviews with children. The document places interviewing within a coordinated response that also covers multidisciplinary teams, cultural responsiveness, advocacy, medical and mental health care, case review, tracking, and child-focused facilities.
The Cornerhouse Forensics Interview Protocol: RATAC
The article describes the CornerHouse RATAC approach, a flexible child forensic interview framework with stages for rapport, anatomy identification, touch inquiry, abuse scenario, and closure. It discusses the research and practice supporting those elements, and says trained interviewers may adapt or skip stages to meet a child’s needs rather than expect a perfect interview.
The Null Hypotheses: Proven and Unfounded Claims of CSA
This resource presents an argument about how research on child sexual abuse allegations should distinguish substantiated, unsubstantiated, and false claims, and compiles studies and excerpts on those categories. It discusses difficulties in establishing ground truth and summarizes a multisite extended-evaluation study, including its unresolved cases and stated limitations.
The Revised NICHD Investigative Interview Protocol
The 2014 revised NICHD protocol provides a staged script for interviewing children, covering introduction, rapport and narrative practice, ground rules, substantive questions, disclosure information, and closure. It prioritizes invitations for free recall and open-ended follow-up, reserving focused or option-posing questions for important details that remain unclear.
The Standard of Care for Forensic Child Interviews
This resource summarizes standards and recommendations for conducting forensic interviews of children, including neutrality, avoiding suggestive questioning, limiting duplicative interviews, and timely coordination. It cites Department of Justice and National Children’s Alliance guidance that interviews should support free recall, minimize interviewer influence, and serve multidisciplinary fact-finding.