Beliefs About Children's Memory and Child Investigative Interviewing Practices: A Survey in Dutch Child Protection Professionals from 'Safe Home'.

Brenda Erens,Lawrence Patihis,Henry Otgaar,Corine De Ruiter

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.546187

Brenda Erens, Lawrence Patihis + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.546187

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Abstract

Knowledge of children’s memory and forensic interviewing skills are crucial in child abuse investigations. Safe Home is the Dutch hotline where both professionals and citizens can report concerns about child abuse or domestic violence. Professionals at Safe Home often serve as first responders to determine the need for a child abuse investigation, protective measures and/or further police investigation. In this study, child protection professionals (N = 158) employed at Safe Home (i.e., behavioral scientists, medical doctors, and social workers) completed an online survey on beliefs about memory functioning and forensic interviewing. In line with earlier studies, we expected to find a lack of knowledge about memory functioning among Safe Home workers. Furthermore, we expected limited use of forensic interviewing methods that have received empirical support. Indeed, we found many professionals endorsed beliefs not in line with current memory research, especially beliefs about repressed and recovered memories. Still, high percentages of professionals also reported memory beliefs related to false memory formation and suggestion that were in line with scientific evidence. Some professionals reported using interviewing methods for which there is no empirical validation. Because child protection professionals are often the first to interview children about allegations of abuse, the current findings identify a need for training in child forensic interviewing, including knowledge of human memory.

Highlights

Child protection workers deal with complex cases of alleged child abuse on a daily basis
Our results suggest that for some, but not all memory beliefs, there is a gap between beliefs held by professionals working at Safe Home in the Netherlands and the current scientific literature on memory
Our study suggests a need for training of Safe Home professionals in both memory functioning and the practice of evidence-based child investigative interviewing

Summary

Introduction

Child protection workers deal with complex cases of alleged child abuse on a daily basis. As part of their work, they interview children about alleged experiences of abuse. There are cases in which questionable interviewing techniques appear to have led to false memories of abuse in children (e.g., the McMartin case; Garven et al, 1998; see Otgaar et al, 2017, for a Dutch case). Use of evidence-informed child forensic interviewing methods, based on knowledge about children’s memory functioning (Cross and Hershkowitz, 2017) are crucial. Professionals tasked with child abuse investigation need to know which types of interview questions are best at minimizing inaccurate memories of events, as well as producing detailed recall (Lamb et al, 2007)

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