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K501 investigative interviewing with children, trainer's pack
Child Abuse & Neglect, Vol. 18, No. 8, pp. 699-702, 1994 Copyright 0 1994 Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in the USA. All rtghts reserved 0145.2134194 $6.00 + .OO
Pergamon
BOOK REVIEWS The views expressed by authors in Child Abuse & Neglect do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors, stafJ; other authors, or the Publisher.
K501 Investigative
Interviewing with Children, Trainer’s Pack. Department of Health and Social Welfare, The Open University, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom, 1993. This training pack contains two main documents-the Trainer’s Guide and the Resources Booklet. The Trainers’ Guide contains advice and suggestions to set up and run a training program. It contains detailed information about giving lectures, using the video, and running exercises. The Resources Booklet gives details of sources for further information and training materials, and a series of readings and materials for running exercises, including handouts. The Resources Booklet includes the following subjects: The investigative process; Investigative interviewing; children’s rights; Towards a better understanding of children’s experience of abuse; Helping children recall; A question of language; Your quick and easy guide to verbal assault and battery; Investigative interviewing with disabled children; and Investigative interviewing: Issues of race and culture. This booklet is comprehensive and while based in the United Kingdom is applicable anywhere. The material contained in the Trainers’ Guide is protected by copyright. However all the material in the Resources Booklet can be freely copied as long as it is used in connection with training, using this pack. The Training Pack also includes a videocassette and overhead transparencies. This material is intended to be used with the training program. The video is divided into five sections, which include: Investigative interviewing with children; Some technical hints on making a video recording; Questions exercise; Responses exercises; and Interviewing exercises. The exercises provide a useful medium for role-play in a training setting. Throughout the video, I was impressed with the design, planning, and production to ensure a sense of accuracy and authenticity. For example, to avoid the risk of abusing real children, all the “children” were played by adults who were not actors but childcare professionals. The Memorandum of Good Practice booklet is also included in the pack to act as a guide to videorecording interviews. The Memorandum offers guidance on the most appropriate and effective means of generating evidence. Whether this form of evidence is legally acceptable in other parts of the world will need to be examined. However, the Memorandum does set out an interviewing framework for any investigative interview. The Pack is very flexible and is intended to meet training needs for both new and experienced staff. Although this Pack was designed in the United Kingdom, it can be easily adapted and provides a comprehensive training program for investigative interviewing with children. BRIAN
Court Social Work Unit Department for Family and Community Adelaide, South Australia
GITSHAM
Services 01452134(94)E0032-0
Counseling Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse (Counseling in Practice Series). Claire Burke Draucker. Sage Publications, London, Newbury Park, New Delhi, 1992. 168 pages. This book provides a comprehensive and useful guide for assessing and treating adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Although the author does not specifically address the commonly associated mental health disorders of adult survivors, such as dissociative disorders, the overall framework offers a clear and practical guide for the student as well as the experienced practitioner for counseling these individuals. The frequent use of case vignettes enhances the understanding and learning of specific counseling techniques as well as the author’s use of a case example at the end of the book to summarize 699
Pergamon
BOOK REVIEWS The views expressed by authors in Child Abuse & Neglect do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors, stafJ; other authors, or the Publisher.
K501 Investigative
Interviewing with Children, Trainer’s Pack. Department of Health and Social Welfare, The Open University, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom, 1993. This training pack contains two main documents-the Trainer’s Guide and the Resources Booklet. The Trainers’ Guide contains advice and suggestions to set up and run a training program. It contains detailed information about giving lectures, using the video, and running exercises. The Resources Booklet gives details of sources for further information and training materials, and a series of readings and materials for running exercises, including handouts. The Resources Booklet includes the following subjects: The investigative process; Investigative interviewing; children’s rights; Towards a better understanding of children’s experience of abuse; Helping children recall; A question of language; Your quick and easy guide to verbal assault and battery; Investigative interviewing with disabled children; and Investigative interviewing: Issues of race and culture. This booklet is comprehensive and while based in the United Kingdom is applicable anywhere. The material contained in the Trainers’ Guide is protected by copyright. However all the material in the Resources Booklet can be freely copied as long as it is used in connection with training, using this pack. The Training Pack also includes a videocassette and overhead transparencies. This material is intended to be used with the training program. The video is divided into five sections, which include: Investigative interviewing with children; Some technical hints on making a video recording; Questions exercise; Responses exercises; and Interviewing exercises. The exercises provide a useful medium for role-play in a training setting. Throughout the video, I was impressed with the design, planning, and production to ensure a sense of accuracy and authenticity. For example, to avoid the risk of abusing real children, all the “children” were played by adults who were not actors but childcare professionals. The Memorandum of Good Practice booklet is also included in the pack to act as a guide to videorecording interviews. The Memorandum offers guidance on the most appropriate and effective means of generating evidence. Whether this form of evidence is legally acceptable in other parts of the world will need to be examined. However, the Memorandum does set out an interviewing framework for any investigative interview. The Pack is very flexible and is intended to meet training needs for both new and experienced staff. Although this Pack was designed in the United Kingdom, it can be easily adapted and provides a comprehensive training program for investigative interviewing with children. BRIAN
Court Social Work Unit Department for Family and Community Adelaide, South Australia
GITSHAM
Services 01452134(94)E0032-0
Counseling Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse (Counseling in Practice Series). Claire Burke Draucker. Sage Publications, London, Newbury Park, New Delhi, 1992. 168 pages. This book provides a comprehensive and useful guide for assessing and treating adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Although the author does not specifically address the commonly associated mental health disorders of adult survivors, such as dissociative disorders, the overall framework offers a clear and practical guide for the student as well as the experienced practitioner for counseling these individuals. The frequent use of case vignettes enhances the understanding and learning of specific counseling techniques as well as the author’s use of a case example at the end of the book to summarize 699