NCJ Number
110405
Date Published
1987
Length
15 pages
Annotation
These guidelines have been designed for use in interviewing child victims of sexual abuse and have been demonstrated to be an effective interviewing strategy with children as old as 5 to 7 and as young as 23 months of age who have some language.
Abstract
The guidelines provide a structured interviewing format that will yield data acceptable as reliable and valid by involved professionals and evidentiary data for the justice system. Suggested materials for use in the interview include a dollhouse, vehicles, markers and papers, a family of eight sexually anatomically detailed dolls, two play telephones, and puppets. The guidelines describe the interview room, the introduction to the parents and child, the greeting of the child, techniques for handling separation problems, and the procedures to use for beginning and conducting the interview. Methods of using and discussing the doll are also detailed. The guidelines also cover the questions to ask, the assessment of the child's responses, the use of appropriate reinforcement, the number of interviews, and the recording of the data. 4 references.