The first interview with child ahead of reporting suspected child sexual abuse

Abstract

SUMMARYChild's disclosures have critical value in child sexual abuse reporting. However, literature show that it is not realistic to expect the abused child to disclosure what s/he experienced easily. Accordingly, it is very important to have professionals who can provide help to get child's purposeful disclosure. In this study, in order to get enough information of the suspected child sexual abuse, depicting the basics of the first interview; therefore providing a written reference appeal for the personnel concerning the issue was aimed. To assure this aim, the studies concerning the child sexual abuse disclosures and interview protocols formed for similar reasons were examined.In this study, a three staged interview schema was taken as a base and an interview plan was formed with regard to samples of possible response sample scenarios. The preparation stage in which establishing a secure relationship with the child is a priority, consists of a general relaxing conversation, informing and describing the guidelines of the interview. The facilitation stage in which child's spontaneous disclosure was supported, includes the use of responses such as encouraging, genuineness, explaining the boundaries of confidentiality, minimal encouragers to talking, free-recall prompt, empathetic response, ability of sustaining silence, asking questions with an aim, paying attention to implied explanations and confirming explanation behavior. The termination stage in which the convenience of ending the interview was checked, involves learning child's feelings about his/her disclosure, checking child's security, answering his/her questions, encouraging him to take control and preparation of written form of the interview.Key Words: Child sexual abuse, disclosure, interview process. ÖZETÇocuk cinsel istismarýnýn bildiriminde çocuklarýn açýkla-malarý kritik deðerdedir. Ancak alan yazýn cinsel istismar maðduru çocuklarýn yaþadýklarýný kolayca açýklamalarýný beklemenin gerçekçi olmadýðýný göstermektedir. Bu yüz-den çocuklarýn istemli açýklama yapmalarýný saðlayabile-cek meslek elemanlarýnýn varlýðý çok önemlidir. Bu çalýþ-mada çocuk cinsel istismar þüphesinin bildirimine dayanak oluþturmaya yetecek bilgilerin alýndýðý ilk görüþ-menin genel çerçevesini tanýmlamak ve böylece ilgili meslek elemanlarýnýn baþvurabileceði yazýlý bir kaynak oluþturmak amaçlanmýþtýr. Bunun için çocuðun cinsel istismarý açýklamasýyla ilgili araþtýrmalar ve benzer amaçla oluþturulmuþ görüþme protokolleri incelenmiþtir.Bu çalýþmada üç aþamalý bir görüþme þemasý temel alýn-mýþ ve olasý senaryo örnekleriyle görüþme planý oluþtu-rulmuþtur. Çocukla güven iliþkisinin oluþturulmasýnýn öncelikli olduðu görüþmeye hazýrlýk aþamasý; rahatlatýcý genel bir konuþmayý, bilgi vermeyi ve görüþme kurallarýný tanýmlamayý içermektedir. Çocuðun spontan anlatýmýnýn desteklendiði açýklamayý kolaylaþtýrma aþamasýnda; cesaretlendirme, içtenlik, gizliliðin sýnýrlarýný açýklama, konuþmaya açýk davet, asgari teþvik, empatik tepki, sessizlik becerisi, amacý belli sorular sorma, dolaylý anla...