Toward the Best Interest of the Child

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Toward the Best Interest of the Child the
Childrens House Multiagency and
Interdisciplinary Approach to Child Sexual Abuse
Save the Children, Copenhagen, October 2002

• Bragi Guðbrandsson, Gen. Director,
• The Gov. Agency for Child Protection, Iceland

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Outline

• The value of international cooperation
• The situation in Iceland prior to the Childrens
  House
• Research findings on child sexual abuse and
  intervention by the authorities
• Defaults in work procedures, lack of competence
  and violation of childrens rights
• Towards solutions the missions of the Childrens
  House
• How does the Childrens House work?
• Positive experiences and issues of concern

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Social awareness

• Stage of denial

• Stage of admittance

• Stage of recognition

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International cooperation

• World Congress 1996
• European Union
• Council of Europe
• Regional cooperation
• Children at risk in the Baltic states
• Childcentre.baltinfo.org

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A study on the prevalance/intervention of child
sexual abuse in Iceland

• intervention in CSA by public agencies.
• data collected from the CPS, the Police, the
  Prosecution and the Courts.
• individual cases were studied and traced on
  different levels
• lessons learned

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Number of cases 1995-1997

• Total number of cases 369 which involved 368
  children
• Average of 123 cases a year.

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Victims by sex

• During the three year period girls were 80,4 and
  boys 19,6 of alleged victims

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Victims by age
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Age of the offender
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Did child know offender?
Child knew offender 216 76,3 Child did not know
offender 18 6,4 Not known 49 17,3
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Duration of abuse
One incident 56,0 Few months 16,7 A year or
more 17,9 Data missing 9,5
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Tracing of cases
Total number 369 100
CPS 281 77
Police 170 46
Prosecution 146 40
Court cases 51 14
Convictions 49 13
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Tracing of cases cont.d
Total number of cases 369 CPS 281 77
Referred to police by CPS 84 30
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Case assessment by CPS

• Substantiated cases 51
• Unsubstantiated cases 32
• Data missing/unknown 18

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An Overview of the Findings Procedural defaults

• Lack of coordination/cooperation between the
  different agencies involved CPS, Police,
  Prosecution, Medical profession
• Lack of an interdisciplinary approach.
• Absence of appropriate guidelines in work
  practices
• Lack of personell with special training and
  specialization, especially in conducting
  investigative interviews

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The Findings contd Violation of the childs
interests

• Investigation often generated painful experiences
  for the child victim

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The Findings contd The child was subjected to

• repeated interviews
• by many interviewers
• in different locations dep. of social services,
  the police station, the hospital, private
  practice, the court etc.
• revictimisation retraumatization
• discrepancies in disclosure
• lack of appropriate assessment, support and
  treatment for the child victim
• lack of counselling and support to the victims
  family

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The preparation of the Childrens House
primary guidelines

• UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, article
  3.1
• In all action concerning children, whether
  undertaken by public or private social welfare
  institutions, courts of law, administrative
  authorities or legislative bodies, the best
  interest of the child shall be a primary
  consideration

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Multiagency Collaboration

• The Gov. Agency for Child Protection
• The State Police
• The State Prosecution
• The Police Dep. in Reykjavik
• The University Hospital Dep. of Pediatrics and
  Dep. of child Psychiatry
• Association of the Directors of Local Social
  Services
• The Child Protection Services in Reykjavik

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Missions of the Childrens House

• to facilitate collaboration and coordination of
  the CPS, Police, Prosecution and the Medical
  profession in the investigation of child sexual
  abuse
• to provide a child friendly setting for joint
  investigative interviews and medical examination
• to ensure professional implementation of
  investigative interviews

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Missions of the Childrens House cont.d

• to ensure that the child victim and his/her
  family receives appropriate assessment, treatment
  and support
• to establish professional work practices and
  guidelines by interdisciplinary cooperation
• to enhance specialized knowledge on child sexual
  abuse and to mediate that knowledge as
  appropriate to professionals and the public alike

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The creation of the Childrens House

• The Childrens Advocacy Model Multiagency and
  interdisciplinary collaboration under one roof
• The preparation phase awareness raising,
  training etc.
• The operation started 1st of November 1998
• Serves the whole country instructions by the
  State Police
• Changes in the legal framework after eight months
  operation

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Childrens House (Barnahus)

Joint Investigative Interviews




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Basic functions A Investigative interviewsThe
Joint Investigative Interview

• The Court Judge is in charge of the procedure
• The Prosecution
• The Police
• The CPS representative
• The Childs Legal Advocate
• The Defence
• The Alleged Offender(exceptional in reality)

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Basic function A The CPS preliminary interview

• At the request of the CPS
• Disclosure is absent or very weak/ambigous
• Offender has not been identified
• Offender is below the age of criminal
  responsibility(15 years)

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Basic function A Investigative Interviews

• The importance of a child friendly setting
• The specialised interviewer a psychologist, a
  social worker, a criminologist
• The interview protocol(to avoid suggestibility
  and increase reliability)
• Specially designed interview room(closed circuit
  television)
• The video tape used for different purposes
  medical exams, assessment and therapy
• IT-link to the courthouse

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Childrens House (Barnahus)
Medical Exams and Evaluation
Joint Investigative Interviews




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Basic function B The Medical Examination

• At the request of the Police, the CPS, the Child
  or the Parents
• Implemented by experienced paediatrician and a
  gynaecologist
• A child friendly examination room
• The use of video-colposcope and its
  therapeutic value
• Anaesthetization exceptional

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Childrens House (Barnahus)
Medical Exams and Evaluation
Joint Investigative Interviews
Victim Therapy
Family Counselling/ Support


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Basic function C Victim therapy and family
counselling

• The child and the non-offending parent(s) receive
  (legal) counselling immediately after the
  investigative interview
• Victim therapy can start soon after
• The videotaped childs disclosure is used for
  initial assessment and treatment plan
• Cognitive-behavioural therapy group therapy not
  yet established
• The therapist is most often important witness in
  court proceedings

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Childrens House (Barnahus)
Medical Exams and Evaluation
Joint Investigative Interviews
Victim Therapy
Family Counselling/ Support
Education, Training and Research
Networking Local/ National
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Almost four year experience
A. Statistical data November 1998 October 2002
Services Number of Children Average per year
Investigative interviews 505 127
Assessment/ Therapy 275 69
Medical examination 124 31

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Investigative interviews implementation
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4
Joint invest. interview 80 43 47 57
CPS investigation 42 67 70 99
Total 122 110 117 156
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Almost four year experience Signs of progress

• Efficient, professional and child friendly work
  procedures and case management
• End to revictimization of the child victim
• Appropriate therapeutic services secured
• Mutual professional trust among the different
  agencies
• Assimilation of knowledge and experience
• Increased public awareness and confidence in the
  authorities

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Almost four year experience Problems in
implementation

• Controversial changes in the legislation
• The principle of evidential immediacy
• The principle of adversarial procedure
• The Court Judges discretion
• where and how to take the child witness statement
• if a specialised interviewer is applied