WEBVTT
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00:00:03.887Hello, everybody, and welcome to Psyched Out, a podcast focused on all things
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00:00:06.727psychology, like psychological thrillers, unethical experiments,
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00:00:08.126true crime, cults, and more.
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00:00:12.247I am your host, Emily, and for those who don't know, I have a bachelor's degree
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00:00:15.214in forensic psychology and a background in law enforcement.
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00:00:19.928This helps me provide unique insight on some of the world's most famous cases, movies, and events.
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00:00:22.407In today's episode, we'll be doing something a little bit different,
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00:00:26.657and we're actually going to be talking about the psychology surrounding forensic
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00:00:31.288interviews, especially in relation to children, and what to ask as a mandated reporter.
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00:00:35.287So in my last episode, whether that be YouTube or the podcast,
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00:00:38.017you guys know that I had said, you know, I probably wasn't going to do an episode
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00:00:39.653this week, and I didn't intend to.
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00:00:43.607But I was able to go to a forensic interview training, which is why I wasn't
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00:00:45.748going to do the episode, because I was quite busy.
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00:00:50.657But I learned so much useful information that I would be remiss if I didn't
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00:00:51.994share some of it with you guys.
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00:00:55.161I know a lot of you are probably teachers, coaches.
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00:01:00.267You guys work in organizations directly with children. Maybe you work in a daycare.
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00:01:03.867Maybe you're a doctor. Maybe you're a nurse. This stuff is going to be very
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00:01:07.577useful and very helpful to you guys. So while it helps better me as a law enforcement
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00:01:11.573officer, it can definitely help you guys if, heaven forbid, you're in a situation
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00:01:15.485where you have to report something or a child discloses something to you.
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00:01:19.507So I have some of the handouts that I got at the class as well as the notes
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00:01:23.037I took in my notebook. So I'm going to just kind of walk through some of the
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00:01:24.878stuff that was talked about.
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00:01:29.017And just to get an idea of who the instructor was, her name is Jen Ingalls.
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00:01:31.786And this was held in Chandler, Arizona.
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00:01:37.740And she is a forensic interviewer supervisor with the Child Help Children's Center.
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00:01:41.652She has 18 years of forensic interview experience.
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00:01:46.505And before that, she actually worked with DCS as well. So she's seen quite a few interviews.
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00:01:52.270Different work environments where forensic interviewing is very beneficial for,
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00:01:55.173you know, investigations and things like that.
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00:01:59.090So without further ado, we're going to look at my notes. And I do apologize.
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00:02:00.502This is not as scripted as normal.
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00:02:05.257This is very much going to be off the cuff, but I will try to be as articulate as possible.
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00:02:09.036So when it comes to forensic interviewing and that type of thing,
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00:02:12.100at the end of the day, you as a mandated reporter are really not going to be
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00:02:13.849doing the interview in and of itself.
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00:02:17.080But you can do a lot of things beforehand that are really going to help out
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00:02:18.458the forensic interviewer.
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00:02:22.310First and foremost, you're going to want to have a neutral perspective on whatever
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00:02:25.770it is that you're being told, which can be very difficult, especially if it's
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00:02:30.718in something that has to do with felony child abuse or sex abuse of a child.
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00:02:34.110That's something that gets a lot of people very heated, very passionate for
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00:02:37.350obvious reasons, right? We want to protect kids. We want to look out for them.
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00:02:38.600So there's no harm in that.
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00:02:43.460That said, you want to be as level-headed and as calm and collected as possible
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00:02:47.680because that's going to be creating a safer, more comfortable environment for
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00:02:50.600the child if they are disclosing information to you.
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00:02:54.480On top of that, you really want to focus on open-ended questions,
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00:02:58.720which is something that we'll get into a little bit later with the handout that I was given.
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00:03:03.470I myself struggle a lot with open-ended questions. I also struggle a lot with
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00:03:06.812this or that questions. Did this happen or did that happen?
00:03:07.160 -->
00:03:12.746And the problem with that is it really limits and narrows what the child is able to say.
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00:03:18.127So the goal in general is to allow a kid to narrate as much as possible.
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00:03:24.250It allows them to recall things more freely. They're able to express themselves
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00:03:28.630easier, and they're not trying to satisfy a this or that question or a yes or
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00:03:31.607no question. Like, it's just very closed off, very limited.
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00:03:35.640And the four biggest things that you want answered, and the four things that
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00:03:39.522really you're probably only ever going to ask them is, Who did it?
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00:03:43.017How did they do it? What happened? Where did it happen?
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00:03:48.074Things like that. And this was something that she very clearly like she reiterated
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00:03:51.775fantastic. The instructor, I don't know if I said her name is Jen Ingalls.
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00:03:55.924And she said, you know, even with law enforcement, you want to limit how much
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00:04:00.374you talk to the kid about the crime and about the incident, because like,
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00:04:03.112obviously, that's going to be very traumatic for the child.
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00:04:06.004And the more people that ask them about it and have them relive that event,
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00:04:07.744the more trauma you're doing to the kid.
00:04:08.342 -->
00:04:12.510On top of that, if, you know, let's say you as the mandated reporter who are a counselor,
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00:04:16.514ask all of these detailed questions and it goes to law enforcement and then
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00:04:19.674the cops are asking all of these detailed questions and then it goes to detectives
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00:04:21.386and they're asking all these detailed questions,
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00:04:25.966the kid is going to be more likely to close themselves off out of frustration
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00:04:30.244that, you know, I've already answered this six times. Why the hell are you asking me that again?
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00:04:33.791So really, the only information that you want is who did it.
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00:04:37.042So you would ask the kid, like, Tell me who did that to you.
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00:04:41.279They can narrate. That's an open-ended question. Tell me what happened.
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00:04:46.554They can narrate. Tell me where did this happen. Let them tell you where it
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00:04:48.408occurred. Tell me when did this happen.
00:04:48.710 -->
00:04:52.744Now, for the most part, like you don't ever want to ask more than that because
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00:04:57.524then you get into situations where you might be leading them or it's not recorded,
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00:04:58.344right? Like you're not going to
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00:05:01.713record this at a school, in a counselor's office. So it gets very tricky.
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00:05:05.898So if you're able to establish the who, what, where, and when,
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00:05:11.254and including the how, that's all the information that you really need to pass
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00:05:13.719on to DCS and to law enforcement.
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00:05:18.184You don't need to ask much follow-up questions. Now, there is one caveat with
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00:05:21.374that, which is like if you ask a kid what happened and they say,
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00:05:26.261oh, well, Uncle Sam touched me, you're going to have to ask a follow-up question later.
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00:05:31.792Really defining what that touch was, right? Because like they could be talking
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00:05:36.452about a touch on the arm, you know? And in that case, that's not a big deal.
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00:05:38.006That's not something to report.
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00:05:43.672So it's okay to say, tell me about the touch or how did Uncle Sam touch you?
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00:05:47.400And then they can, you know, elaborate and narrate a little bit more.
00:05:48.162 -->
00:05:52.412But Ingalls was very, very clear that, you know, once you get that information,
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00:05:56.732stop, don't ask follow-up questions because you don't want to re-traumatize
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00:05:59.703the child, and you don't want to muddy the waters for the investigation.
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00:06:04.475So getting that information is super, super important.
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00:06:08.608Sometimes it's hard to get that information from a kid.
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00:06:12.202And sometimes, you know, let's say you're being told third party,
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00:06:15.661right? Like little Susie told little Jimmy, and now little Jimmy's telling you.
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00:06:19.592And little Jimmy may not know the details. It's okay to go to little Susie and
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00:06:22.332ask just those questions. And once you have that information,
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00:06:27.155go and report it to whatever designated parties you are supposed to report it to.
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00:06:33.512So again, limiting the traumatic nature of it, but also doing your job as a
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00:06:37.932mandated reporter. And you'll probably get a lot of good detail and information
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00:06:40.719if you're using the open-ended questions and letting the kid narrate.
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00:06:44.719So you probably won't need a whole lot of follow-up in the first place.
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00:06:50.152Now, one thing that I thought was particularly interesting, because it gets
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00:06:54.552a little complex is that a lot of places try to do the forensic interview first
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00:06:56.866before they do any type of medical examination.
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00:07:04.764And the way that I have always done it where I work is you it's very situational. Right.
00:07:05.432 -->
00:07:09.692So just for for clarification. Right. If this is something that happened two
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00:07:14.290days ago, obviously you're going to want to get that medical examination done
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00:07:19.028sooner rather than later, because that's important and that's pressing as far as time goes.
00:07:19.272 -->
00:07:22.722Now, if it happened two years ago, medical examination, one,
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00:07:24.758isn't going to do a whole lot and two is probably like.
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00:07:29.611Not necessary. So then you're going to want to focus more on the forensic interview.
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00:07:33.913Now, the reason the forensic interview is prioritized in some cases over the
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00:07:37.087medical examination is that the child's not in imminent danger.
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00:07:41.063So let's say that it's a split custody situation, right?
00:07:41.063 -->
00:07:46.433You have mom and dad and dad has kid for a week, then mom has kid for a week and dad's the abuser.
00:07:46.433 -->
00:07:50.703So now kids with mom for a week, that child's no longer in imminent danger of
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00:07:54.113being abused by the father. So you can slow things down a little bit,
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00:07:57.503set up the forensic interview, and then have the medical examination done.
00:07:57.503 -->
00:07:59.482Sometimes you can do that simultaneously.
00:08:00.335 -->
00:08:04.223Now, the reason the forensic interview is so important to do before the medical
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00:08:09.383examination is you can get some of the necessary information and pass that on
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00:08:12.781to medical providers ahead of time so they know what to look for.
00:08:13.193 -->
00:08:16.613That way, they're not asking the kid the same questions that this child has
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00:08:22.655already answered. So, again, lowers the trauma of the experience.
00:08:23.439 -->
00:08:27.583Also, something that I didn't know is that each county should have a specific
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00:08:32.941protocol for how a mandated reporter should operate, depending on like what your role is.
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00:08:37.703So Maricopa County, which is where Chandler is situated and where the training
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00:08:43.903took place, has a very, very robust criteria and policy for,
00:08:43.903 -->
00:08:46.573well, if X, Y, Z happens, then you do X, Y, Z.
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00:08:51.143So I have not looked up the protocol for the county I work with.
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00:08:52.564That's something that I'm definitely going to do.
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00:08:57.353But go ahead and see if you guys have something like that because it doesn't
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00:09:02.247hurt and it can provide a little more resource and guidelines on what you should or shouldn't do.
00:09:02.537 -->
00:09:07.117The website they gave us in class was az.dcs.gov.
00:09:07.448 -->
00:09:11.063There may be a similar website for whatever state you live in or whatever county
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00:09:14.757you live in. So you might be able to look it up that way.
00:09:15.326 -->
00:09:22.513Now, something that, you know, at face value makes a lot of sense is that there
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00:09:25.270are technically three types of reports.
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00:09:30.413So this is if a kid is the one reporting it. So it's not from a third party,
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00:09:33.843right? It's not like mom and dad found out that somebody at school was harassing
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00:09:37.123and, you know, assaulting kids. So they call law enforcement.
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00:09:39.310This is coming from the child themselves.
00:09:39.520 -->
00:09:42.521So there is the purposeful admission.
00:09:42.753 -->
00:09:45.203There's the accidental and then there's the prompted.
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00:09:51.183And these are called disclosures. So purposeful disclosure, accidental disclosure,
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00:09:54.643prompted disclosure. Now, it kind of makes sense when I explain it.
00:09:54.643 -->
00:09:57.973But just in case you don't know, the purposeful disclosure is that the child
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00:09:59.855very much intended to tell somebody.
00:10:00.280 -->
00:10:04.470The kid said, You know what? I'm ready. This is time. I'm going to tell a trusted adult.
00:10:05.297 -->
00:10:09.265Makes sense. Then you have the accidental disclosure. And this is something
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00:10:14.015like, let's say, you know, a kid's playing house and they let something slip
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00:10:16.176about their own personal life and their experience.
00:10:16.524 -->
00:10:20.505And, you know, you ask them later, oh, well, did you say X, Y and Z?
00:10:20.795 -->
00:10:23.695And they get, you know, scared or they back off and they're like,
00:10:23.695 -->
00:10:26.433oh, no, I didn't say that. That could be an accidental disclosure.
00:10:26.919 -->
00:10:30.494Or a lot of times somebody may tell a friend and say, hey, you know, this happened to me.
00:10:30.762 -->
00:10:35.545Well, then friend goes and tells a teacher and the initial kid did not intend
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00:10:39.719for that information to get back and then be passed on to like DCS or law enforcement.
00:10:39.992 -->
00:10:44.247So when confronted, they may deny it. So again, another type of accidental disclosure.
00:10:44.903 -->
00:10:49.135And then lastly, you have prompted disclosure, which is a kid's not going to
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00:10:51.712go out of their way to specifically tell you what happened.
00:10:51.985 -->
00:10:56.339But let's just say you, you know, you see bruises on the kid's body,
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00:10:57.841something that's not natural.
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00:11:02.080And you pull them aside and you're like, oh, how did you get those bruises?
00:11:02.750 -->
00:11:06.529And they then disclose like, oh, well, mom and dad beat me up at home.
00:11:06.796 -->
00:11:10.165That's a prompted disclosure because you kind of had to guide it out of them
00:11:10.165 -->
00:11:11.672or get the conversation started.
00:11:11.945 -->
00:11:15.079It wasn't something that they went out of their way to to tell you.
00:11:16.002 -->
00:11:18.168Now, you can have two types of
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00:11:22.916disclosure. So sometimes you can have an accidental and a prompted, right?
00:11:23.189 -->
00:11:27.578So, you know, little Susie tells little Timmy, who then tells the teacher.
00:11:27.578 -->
00:11:30.043So teacher goes and talks to little Susie.
00:11:30.322 -->
00:11:33.857Little Susie did not want that disclosure to get back to the teacher.
00:11:34.188 -->
00:11:37.148But now that the teacher is going to talk to her, she's going to eventually
00:11:37.148 -->
00:11:40.058disclose what happened and she's not going to be in denial. So then you can
00:11:40.058 -->
00:11:45.055have the combination of like accidental disclosure and prompted disclosure and vice versa.
00:11:45.409 -->
00:11:50.204It's a very fluid type of situation.
00:11:50.721 -->
00:11:54.528Now, what's what's really interesting to.
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00:12:02.535To me is there is a very common perception with like society in general that
00:12:02.878 -->
00:12:06.678malicious false allegations are far more common than they actually are.
00:12:06.678 -->
00:12:10.108You see it a lot with custody issues where it's like, oh, well,
00:12:10.108 -->
00:12:13.436mom's coaching little Jimmy to say X, Y, Z about dad.
00:12:13.778 -->
00:12:17.505The chances of that happening, while possible, are very slim to none.
00:12:17.697 -->
00:12:21.528And in most cases, I would say 99 percent of cases, and I can't remember the
00:12:21.528 -->
00:12:23.884specific number she used, but it was something similar to that.
00:12:24.354 -->
00:12:27.657There is no malicious intent behind what the child is disclosing.
00:12:27.994 -->
00:12:33.058So take it at face value, because at some point it's going to come out,
00:12:33.058 -->
00:12:35.029you know, whether there is or is not evidence.
00:12:35.436 -->
00:12:38.498If it's properly investigated and there's a shit ton of evidence to back up
00:12:38.498 -->
00:12:41.938what was said, great. If there's nothing there and it ends up being a malicious
00:12:41.938 -->
00:12:44.021accusation, okay, cool.
00:12:44.358 -->
00:12:50.628But given the statistics, it all needs to be treated like it is a truthful telling
00:12:50.628 -->
00:12:54.588of events. Like, the allegations are not made up. It's not like little Jimmy's
00:12:54.588 -->
00:12:58.495being coached by mom to make dad look bad. Because it's just...
00:12:59.366 -->
00:13:06.401It's not very, very common. On top of that, and this is something that I didn't know, but what
00:13:06.781 -->
00:13:12.074Jen Ingalls was saying is that kids a lot of times get labeled as liars because
00:13:12.440 -->
00:13:14.965they may be kind of wishy-washy on some details.
00:13:15.145 -->
00:13:18.201First and foremost, kid memories, not as good as adult memories.
00:13:18.713 -->
00:13:21.709I, in general, don't have a fantastic memory either.
00:13:22.138 -->
00:13:25.850But kids are more prone to forget things, especially very specific details.
00:13:26.261 -->
00:13:31.211Details so they may say that they don't remember or they don't recall and then
00:13:31.211 -->
00:13:35.121in another interview be able to go into detail well sometimes you may suddenly
00:13:35.121 -->
00:13:38.441remember something and so it wasn't that they lied about not knowing and then
00:13:38.441 -->
00:13:40.447later pulled that information out of their ass
00:13:40.755 -->
00:13:45.051they just genuinely didn't know at the time so just because a kid may you know
00:13:45.051 -->
00:13:48.911get a little confused on some of the details or omit information that does not
00:13:48.911 -->
00:13:51.274automatically mean that they are lying to you
00:13:51.610 -->
00:13:54.532that is something that a lot of people can get hung up on,
00:13:55.072 -->
00:13:58.851and it's important to know that most kids when it comes to something like this
00:13:58.851 -->
00:14:03.204same with the malicious intent do not go out of their way to try and cause problems,
00:14:03.680 -->
00:14:08.211do some do that sure but at the end of the day like you're going to be able
00:14:08.211 -->
00:14:12.202to prove that it's a bullshit a bullshit claim so just understand
00:14:12.556 -->
00:14:17.021that what may seem weird if it were an adult doing it is not always the same
00:14:17.021 -->
00:14:20.873as when a kid is doing it because kids and adults very, very different.
00:14:22.173 -->
00:14:26.622So aside from, like, the inconsistent statements and wishy-washy,
00:14:27.428 -->
00:14:32.050statements, something that I found particularly alarming but something that
00:14:32.050 -->
00:14:38.140makes a lot of sense was when Jen Ingalls said that older kids, especially girls, are,
00:14:38.640 -->
00:14:44.013far more aware of the consequences that come if they were to disclose sexual assault.
00:14:44.431 -->
00:14:48.390So older girls, teenage girls or adolescent girls,
00:14:48.907 -->
00:14:55.100are much more likely to deny something when prompted or when asked and much
00:14:55.100 -->
00:15:00.580more likely to refuse disclosing information because they know DCS can get involved.
00:15:00.580 -->
00:15:04.282I can get taken away from my family or dad's going to go back to prison.
00:15:04.915 -->
00:15:11.810And so they are much more likely to be in denial and refuse to cooperate because
00:15:11.810 -->
00:15:15.612they are more emotionally and socially aware of the potential consequences.
00:15:15.937 -->
00:15:21.250And that's like really sad, but it's also not something that I found too out
00:15:21.250 -->
00:15:23.900of left field, right? Like it makes sense when you think about it.
00:15:23.900 -->
00:15:28.160Girls in general are much more emotionally and socially mature at a younger age than boys are.
00:15:28.769 -->
00:15:33.320So for girls to figure that out that does make a lot of sense and then she also
00:15:33.320 -->
00:15:39.160said that boys are more likely to disclose later in life like much much later
00:15:39.160 -->
00:15:43.736in life and it's usually due to.
00:15:44.557 -->
00:15:48.738A lot of social barriers. She said that, you know, while society has gotten
00:15:48.738 -->
00:15:52.528better about a lot of things and recognizing male victims, there's a lot of
00:15:52.528 -->
00:15:58.094internalized misogyny and toxic masculinity and issues that boys have to go through.
00:15:58.553 -->
00:16:02.498For instance, a lot of men feel that because they were victimized,
00:16:02.498 -->
00:16:05.410that makes them weak and they don't want to look weak to other men.
00:16:05.816 -->
00:16:10.428Or, you know, it may be something where they're ashamed to admit that it happened
00:16:10.428 -->
00:16:15.088to them because, well, you know, I'm a guy, I'm a boy, that never should have happened to me.
00:16:15.088 -->
00:16:17.718Like, I should have done this, I should have done that. And that's something
00:16:17.718 -->
00:16:21.691that girls experience too, but it's a lot more prolific in boys.
00:16:22.178 -->
00:16:26.298Then you have the mentality a lot of times that gets passed around of,
00:16:26.298 -->
00:16:30.568oh, well, you were a player. Like, you weren't, you know, sexually assaulted
00:16:30.568 -->
00:16:34.075by your adult female teacher. You're just a guy who likes cougars.
00:16:34.342 -->
00:16:37.718And if you've been on the channel, you know that I experienced that type of
00:16:37.718 -->
00:16:40.745sentiment firsthand when I worked in juvenile detention.
00:16:41.320 -->
00:16:48.218There was a, a boy who had a grown-ass, he said, girlfriend and admitted that
00:16:48.218 -->
00:16:51.921he had engaged in sexual relations with her. And he was like 15.
00:16:52.385 -->
00:16:55.918And I told him, you know, she's what, 22, 23, like you're a victim.
00:16:55.918 -->
00:16:58.799And he fought back and said, no, I'm a player.
00:16:59.096 -->
00:17:03.438I like older women. So that's another sentiment too. And they may not realize
00:17:03.438 -->
00:17:06.896until they're older, like, oh, hey, what actually happened to me was wrong.
00:17:07.477 -->
00:17:12.528And on top of that, there are a lot of boys who, who when they grow up say that
00:17:12.528 -->
00:17:16.782part of the reason they never disclose the information is because they didn't want to be seen as gay.
00:17:17.496 -->
00:17:23.255And if you were on my TikTok live when I talked about the Boy Scouts documentary.
00:17:24.095 -->
00:17:27.707That's that's kind of a real invalid concern. So when the Boy Scouts were having
00:17:27.707 -->
00:17:32.347all of their issues with, you know, predators being in the Boy Scouts and abusing
00:17:32.347 -->
00:17:34.266and molesting and assaulting children,
00:17:34.887 -->
00:17:37.967they said, well, the best solution here is to get rid of all gay people because
00:17:37.967 -->
00:17:39.345they're the ones that are the predators.
00:17:40.047 -->
00:17:44.617That was not the case. And so they banned all gay scoutmasters,
00:17:44.617 -->
00:17:49.807all gay participants, made it this whole homophobic-based issue when it really
00:17:49.807 -->
00:17:53.788wasn't and the perpetrators were straight, which, surprise.
00:17:54.037 -->
00:17:57.287So there's still a lot of that lingering rhetoric. And I think that's part of
00:17:57.287 -->
00:18:00.829the reason, too, why we need to, as a society, understand that,
00:18:01.723 -->
00:18:06.787one, if you are a boy and you have been molested or assaulted by another man,
00:18:06.787 -->
00:18:09.367that does not make you gay in any way, shape, or form.
00:18:09.715 -->
00:18:14.325And if you do realize you're gay, you weren't turned gay because of that experience, okay?
00:18:14.772 -->
00:18:17.947And on top of that, there's nothing wrong with being gay, you know?
00:18:17.947 -->
00:18:21.517Like, stuff like that, it's bad.
00:18:21.517 -->
00:18:25.127It shouldn't have happened, shouldn't have ever occurred in the first place.
00:18:25.127 -->
00:18:28.546And so it's just really sad to think that that's still something that so many
00:18:28.843 -->
00:18:33.037boys are afraid of, of being seen as to the point where they won't disclose
00:18:33.037 -->
00:18:35.750and they will sit with that pain well into adulthood.
00:18:37.615 -->
00:18:45.152Next on the notes is that some of the things to keep in mind when it comes to
00:18:45.575 -->
00:18:51.138these forensic interviews is that you also need to establish jurisdiction, right?
00:18:51.138 -->
00:18:56.298So if little Susie lives in a different county but goes to the county you work
00:18:56.298 -->
00:18:59.035in for school, but the crime took place in that different county,
00:18:59.308 -->
00:19:03.975you need to establish with that set of authorities what took place.
00:19:04.405 -->
00:19:07.168Because if you start with your county, if the event didn't happen,
00:19:07.168 -->
00:19:09.761they're going to send you somewhere else. So it's better to get ahead of that,
00:19:10.388 -->
00:19:12.757rather than be thrown around a lot.
00:19:13.303 -->
00:19:17.078Again, we have written down the who, what, where, when, how,
00:19:17.078 -->
00:19:19.287all of that, those questions you can ask.
00:19:19.618 -->
00:19:24.478And then just don't go out of your way to speak to the kid unless it's necessary.
00:19:24.478 -->
00:19:26.520So like third-party information.
00:19:26.921 -->
00:19:29.510So let's just say that mom and dad found something out.
00:19:30.393 -->
00:19:36.463About school official assaulting their kid. Don't go and talk to that kid. Talk to the parents.
00:19:36.829 -->
00:19:40.274Get as much information from the parents as you can and avoid speaking to that
00:19:40.274 -->
00:19:45.994kid unless one of those questions, the who, what, where, when, or how, is not answered.
00:19:45.994 -->
00:19:49.344And even then, only ask the question that wasn't answered. So if you have who,
00:19:49.344 -->
00:19:54.134what, where, and when answered, only ask the kid how it happened or something
00:19:54.134 -->
00:19:56.843along those lines for an example.
00:19:57.210 -->
00:20:01.944And then, And like I said earlier, don't ask a lot of follow-up questions unless it's absolutely
00:20:02.368 -->
00:20:06.350necessary because, again, if they're having to repeat their story 8,000 times,
00:20:06.623 -->
00:20:10.064fatigue and frustration are going to set in and they're going to be less likely
00:20:10.064 -->
00:20:12.625to cooperate and want to participate
00:20:13.049 -->
00:20:14.483in what's taking place.
00:20:15.110 -->
00:20:23.304Now, on the psych side of things, you have free recall memory and you have, well, let's see here.
00:20:23.304 -->
00:20:28.654Yeah, you have free recall memory and then you have recognition questions.
00:20:28.654 -->
00:20:31.939So free recall memory, what that means is it's a lot more off the cuff.
00:20:32.410 -->
00:20:37.000It's open ended. It allows for a lot of narration. It's more,
00:20:37.516 -->
00:20:42.664you know, you fill in the gaps rather than me suggesting to you what took place
00:20:42.664 -->
00:20:44.593and then you tell me if that's accurate or not.
00:20:45.011 -->
00:20:48.524And then you have registration questions, which are more yes or no.
00:20:48.524 -->
00:20:50.049So close-ended questions.
00:20:50.664 -->
00:20:56.824They're very pointed and they are more in reference to like very specific identifiable
00:20:56.824 -->
00:21:00.762markers. So for both of these, let's use the example of a birthday party, right?
00:21:01.337 -->
00:21:05.614So if you're like hey tell me about your your birthday that's more of a free
00:21:05.614 -->
00:21:09.916recall situation where the person is going to just openly tell you like oh
00:21:10.276 -->
00:21:13.914at 12 o'clock all of my family came over my uncle so-and-so was there my aunt
00:21:13.914 -->
00:21:16.865so-and-so was there at 3 p.m we had presents blah blah blah
00:21:17.236 -->
00:21:21.174whereas registration questions if you're asking a kid like did you have cake
00:21:21.174 -->
00:21:23.198at your birthday party they're going to say yes or no,
00:21:23.657 -->
00:21:26.288oh did you open presents yes no um.
00:21:27.008 -->
00:21:30.392But those are things that kids associate with birthday parties, right?
00:21:30.700 -->
00:21:34.027So that's where the registration comes from. Like they are going to say yes,
00:21:34.027 -->
00:21:36.760and they're going to recognize that cake is part of the birthday party,
00:21:37.044 -->
00:21:41.657but it's not going to allow them to extrapolate on the narrative and the series
00:21:41.657 -->
00:21:43.761of events that took place.
00:21:44.446 -->
00:21:50.987Another thing that Jen Ingalls was very, very adamant about is that some of
00:21:50.987 -->
00:21:54.857the only times that you should ever interview a child for those specific questions,
00:21:54.857 -->
00:21:58.127who, what, where, when and how is if the kid is verbal.
00:21:58.127 -->
00:22:00.993So if the kid is not verbal, don't get involved with that at all.
00:22:01.376 -->
00:22:06.007Get as much information as you can from the reporting party because that complicates
00:22:06.007 -->
00:22:07.564things a lot in and of itself.
00:22:08.547 -->
00:22:11.597And then if you haven't established those questions already,
00:22:11.597 -->
00:22:12.907establish those questions.
00:22:13.662 -->
00:22:20.690And if you can use a lot of like exact quotes.
00:22:21.090 -->
00:22:27.876So if kid says, Uncle Sammy did this to me. Use what they specifically said that he did.
00:22:28.674 -->
00:22:34.312So, you know, let's say, for instance, Uncle Sammy touched me on the butt.
00:22:34.416 -->
00:22:38.627You can say, you said that Uncle Sammy touched you on the butt. Tell me about that.
00:22:39.027 -->
00:22:40.935So reiterate what it is that they're saying.
00:22:41.820 -->
00:22:48.427And then moving on, it is not your job as a mandated reporter to really determine
00:22:48.427 -->
00:22:51.417the veracity of a claim. So again, it's not your job to say,
00:22:51.417 -->
00:22:55.929oh, well, I think she's lying because she couldn't look me in the eyes while she was talking.
00:22:56.574 -->
00:22:58.317That's not your job. And, you
00:22:58.317 -->
00:23:02.527know, she, Jen Ingalls talked about a time where a principal, you know.
00:23:03.475 -->
00:23:08.112Basically told a girl who had disclosed that she had been sexually assaulted.
00:23:08.112 -->
00:23:10.912This principal was like, I don't fucking believe her. She's a liar.
00:23:11.249 -->
00:23:14.332And then the victim was like, well, fuck you guys. I'm not going to work with
00:23:14.332 -->
00:23:19.912you, right? So like, keep that stuff to yourself and just believe that it happened
00:23:19.912 -->
00:23:23.178until proven. Otherwise, that's usually a pretty good rule of thumb.
00:23:23.503 -->
00:23:27.262I would say most logical individuals and empathetic individuals are of that
00:23:27.262 -->
00:23:32.883sentiment, but apparently it needs to be said because some people are not like that.
00:23:33.431 -->
00:23:37.092Then there's some trickier cases where like, let's just say this is something
00:23:37.092 -->
00:23:40.762that occurred at home or at school. Other kids may be witnesses.
00:23:41.404 -->
00:23:44.922Again, they're children, so you have to be tricky with the questions that you
00:23:44.922 -->
00:23:48.202ask them. It's okay to ask them the who, what, where, when, and how,
00:23:48.631 -->
00:23:54.009because that can help corroborate what the kid disclosed or what the reporting party disclosed.
00:23:54.474 -->
00:23:57.412But other than that, you don't want to go beyond that. So it's kind of just
00:23:57.412 -->
00:24:02.131the same principle, except they're more of a witness than they are a victim.
00:24:02.926 -->
00:24:07.022Another thing when it comes to just the way that kids process stuff and the
00:24:07.022 -->
00:24:12.157way that questions should be phrased, you have script memory and then you have episodic memory.
00:24:12.616 -->
00:24:16.737And I already kind of knew what episodic memory was, but I didn't know what script memory was.
00:24:16.993 -->
00:24:23.902So script memory is for repeated events and it's very, very similar to what
00:24:23.902 -->
00:24:28.812we already talked about with free recall and then recording.
00:24:29.842 -->
00:24:32.630What was it? Recognition questions. It's very, very similar.
00:24:32.630 -->
00:24:34.007They kind of build off of each other.
00:24:34.257 -->
00:24:38.710So script memory, it would be like, oh, can you tell me what you do at the grocery
00:24:38.710 -->
00:24:41.580store? And it's like, oh, well, I always start on the produce side.
00:24:41.580 -->
00:24:46.450And once I get all of my groceries on the produce side, I go and then I walk
00:24:46.450 -->
00:24:47.620through the deli section.
00:24:47.899 -->
00:24:52.102And that's script. That's preplanned. You have that memorized.
00:24:52.775 -->
00:24:55.770There's not a lot of specifics there. Now, if you were to say,
00:24:55.770 -->
00:25:00.440you know, can you tell me what you did at the grocery store on Tuesday and isolate
00:25:00.440 -->
00:25:04.240the event? That's episodic memory because you're narrowing the scope down to
00:25:04.240 -->
00:25:06.701a specific instance, a specific time frame.
00:25:07.390 -->
00:25:11.420So it really helps you get more into the nitty gritty than just having like
00:25:11.420 -->
00:25:16.344a generalized, well, what happened? And then hoping that you get the necessary details.
00:25:16.658 -->
00:25:20.770Now, what you can do is start with a script based question, such as tell me
00:25:20.770 -->
00:25:24.580what you do at the grocery store to build a baseline, and then you can switch
00:25:24.580 -->
00:25:27.014to like an episodic based memory question.
00:25:27.674 -->
00:25:32.050Like, oh, OK, I see. Now, what did you do specifically on Tuesday at the grocery
00:25:32.050 -->
00:25:34.012store? And then you can kind of compare.
00:25:34.732 -->
00:25:38.882The script answer to the episodic answer. So that's fine as well,
00:25:39.411 -->
00:25:41.669but it is helpful to know the difference.
00:25:42.353 -->
00:25:46.639On top of that, something to keep in mind is what the kid's primary language
00:25:46.639 -->
00:25:50.369is. And this is something that I personally never really thought of because,
00:25:50.889 -->
00:25:53.880I really don't, where I live, there's not a lot of ethnic diversity.
00:25:54.356 -->
00:25:58.969It's a lot of old white people, a lot of college students, but for the most
00:25:58.969 -->
00:26:02.456part, everybody speaks English. Every now and then you'll get somebody who doesn't.
00:26:02.764 -->
00:26:06.369And we'll use like translator apps and things like that. But if you live in
00:26:06.369 -->
00:26:09.719more of a bilingual community, that can be very, very hard.
00:26:09.719 -->
00:26:15.599And so while a lot of kids will speak English, it's better if they can answer
00:26:15.599 -->
00:26:16.929in their primary language.
00:26:16.929 -->
00:26:20.409So if they predominantly speak Spanish, even if they tell you,
00:26:20.409 -->
00:26:23.899oh, I want to answer in English, see if you can get somebody who's bilingual
00:26:23.899 -->
00:26:27.779to translate for you because it's just going to be easier and more comfortable for them.
00:26:28.139 -->
00:26:34.751Because sometimes with trauma, their brain won't encode it properly in English compared to Spanish.
00:26:35.047 -->
00:26:37.769Again, not something that I had ever really thought of, but something that's
00:26:37.769 -->
00:26:41.729good to know and to keep in mind in case that ever presents itself.
00:26:42.631 -->
00:26:47.327Again, we want to have open-ended questions and avoid non-leading questions.
00:26:47.600 -->
00:26:51.594And then something that she talked about, which is very, very helpful, is the funnel approach.
00:26:52.064 -->
00:26:55.762Again, kind of goes into using script memory and then episodic memory.
00:26:55.762 -->
00:26:57.627Start big and then get small.
00:26:58.428 -->
00:27:01.572That is more useful when it comes to, like, talking to adults.
00:27:01.572 -->
00:27:03.892Because, again, with the kids, you only want to ask the who,
00:27:03.892 -->
00:27:05.371what, where, when, how questions.
00:27:05.737 -->
00:27:09.552But let's just say you're talking to mom and dad. It's okay to start with bigger,
00:27:09.552 -->
00:27:11.089wider, more open-ended questions.
00:27:11.356 -->
00:27:16.387Get all of those details and then get narrower into more specific questions that's,
00:27:16.997 -->
00:27:22.986perfectly fine and then obviously you know avoid suggestive questions and then,
00:27:23.457 -->
00:27:27.632avoid giving options like oh well did x y and z happen or did x y and z happen
00:27:27.632 -->
00:27:31.812which is something that i myself really struggle with i didn't realize i did
00:27:31.812 -->
00:27:36.251that so much in my line of work until it was pointed out to me in this training and i thought well,
00:27:36.936 -->
00:27:40.593that is certainly something that i do a lot of that i probably need to work on.
00:27:40.924 -->
00:27:46.392So it was very eye-opening for me because it made me self-aware of a shortcoming
00:27:46.392 -->
00:27:50.447that I have. And my job and my goal in my line of work is to always better myself
00:27:50.685 -->
00:27:53.227so that I can help people to the best of my capabilities.
00:27:53.634 -->
00:27:56.772Because obviously, if somebody's being a child predator, you want to get a conviction
00:27:56.772 -->
00:28:01.072on that. So if I can help make my questions better for the parents or for the
00:28:01.072 -->
00:28:04.747kid, that's going to help in the long run, especially if it goes to court.
00:28:05.479 -->
00:28:11.182Now, some examples of, you know, bad questions and good questions.
00:28:11.182 -->
00:28:14.812So, for instance, instead of saying, was his hair black, blonde,
00:28:14.812 -->
00:28:17.082or something else, which would be that option-based question,
00:28:17.082 -->
00:28:18.460you say, tell me about his hair.
00:28:18.769 -->
00:28:24.262And that allows the kid to narrate. So, let's say the kid doesn't know a staff
00:28:24.262 -->
00:28:27.703member's name at the school, and you're trying to establish that who,
00:28:28.225 -->
00:28:32.601you can get a description for the potential suspect using that question.
00:28:33.106 -->
00:28:36.424Another thing, instead of was he tall or short, fat or skinny,
00:28:36.768 -->
00:28:42.299you say, tell me what his body looked like or tell me about his or her skin color.
00:28:43.627 -->
00:28:46.662If they have like a birthmark or something, if you're trying to determine if
00:28:46.662 -->
00:28:49.862somebody has tattoos and you're trying to get that description instead of asking,
00:28:49.862 -->
00:28:51.093oh, do they have tattoos?
00:28:51.441 -->
00:28:54.822You can say, oh, did you see something on their skin? If the kid says yes,
00:28:54.822 -->
00:28:57.757then you can say, well, what was it? Or tell me what it was.
00:28:58.962 -->
00:29:05.832And so that really helps kind of allow them to describe to their knowledge and
00:29:05.832 -->
00:29:07.371to their recollection what happened.
00:29:07.580 -->
00:29:11.319And it's not you inadvertently putting words into their mouth.
00:29:11.626 -->
00:29:16.320So I thought that the training was really really cool. It was only about three hours,
00:29:16.895 -->
00:29:22.322And I I learned a lot personally and those are like the biggest points on it
00:29:22.322 -->
00:29:25.252There is a more advanced forensic interview training, which I don't think i'll
00:29:25.252 -->
00:29:27.392get to go to because I will be on vacation,
00:29:27.996 -->
00:29:32.252But if you get the opportunity as a mandated reporter to ever attend one of
00:29:32.252 -->
00:29:36.362those, I highly recommend it Now if you can't that's perfectly fine That's really
00:29:36.362 -->
00:29:39.912honestly why I made this episode is because that way you can use the information
00:29:39.912 -->
00:29:41.046that I have disclosed here
00:29:41.359 -->
00:29:43.838to better help you in your line of work.
00:29:44.087 -->
00:29:47.727So to wrap it all up, what are the biggest things that we want to take away from here?
00:29:47.890 -->
00:29:51.362Number one, we do not want to constantly re-traumatize the child.
00:29:51.362 -->
00:29:54.972So the less people that the child has to speak to in detail about the events
00:29:54.972 -->
00:29:55.918that happened, the better.
00:29:56.336 -->
00:29:59.542Number two, you specifically want to ask the kid who, what, where,
00:29:59.542 -->
00:30:02.065when, and how. And if you can answer all of those questions,
00:30:02.332 -->
00:30:06.062do not ask follow-up questions. It's not necessary because it goes back to point
00:30:06.062 -->
00:30:08.143one where you don't want to re-traumatize the child.
00:30:08.486 -->
00:30:11.748Once you have the information, you can pass it on to law enforcement it in DCS,
00:30:12.021 -->
00:30:15.294and then they'll get a forensic interview in session.
00:30:15.886 -->
00:30:20.657Number three, ask open-ended questions. Don't have options. Don't give them
00:30:20.657 -->
00:30:24.908limited choices, not yes or no. The more that a kid is able to narrate, the better.
00:30:25.303 -->
00:30:29.317Number four, the funnel approach. Start big, get small. Starting big and broad
00:30:29.317 -->
00:30:32.316helps you get down to the nitty-gritty when and if it is necessary.
00:30:32.606 -->
00:30:36.652That is more applicable to adults than it is to children.
00:30:37.145 -->
00:30:40.988And then last but certainly not least, number five,
00:30:41.366 -->
00:30:46.497if you cannot get a child to specifically say, this is who did it to me,
00:30:46.497 -->
00:30:50.294it is okay to ask open-ended questions to get a description for
00:30:50.653 -->
00:30:55.657the individual, and in some cases, to get a better understanding of the crime
00:30:55.657 -->
00:30:58.797that was committed, like the example I gave earlier, which is,
00:30:58.797 -->
00:31:01.010oh, well, Uncle Sam touched me.
00:31:01.364 -->
00:31:05.647Oh, tell me how he touched you, because a touch, very vague.
00:31:05.647 -->
00:31:06.960You want to define that a little bit.
00:31:07.343 -->
00:31:10.123Once little Susie tells you how Uncle Sam touched her, though,
00:31:10.472 -->
00:31:14.117don't ask the follow-up questions. You don't need to know how it happens specifically,
00:31:14.117 -->
00:31:17.436such as work your clothes on, work your clothes off, things like that.
00:31:17.669 -->
00:31:20.078Take that information, report it, and you'll be good to go.
00:31:20.356 -->
00:31:24.537And this helps forensic interviewers on the back end do a much better job,
00:31:24.537 -->
00:31:28.137and it doesn't stress the child or fatigue the child the way that it would if
00:31:28.137 -->
00:31:31.392you had started to get into the nitty gritty with them.
00:31:31.734 -->
00:31:35.817Also, pro tip, if you are able to, and this is if, again, I don't know what
00:31:35.817 -->
00:31:38.085your guys' policies are for the places that you work.
00:31:38.607 -->
00:31:43.577If you are able to record those questions being asked, that is very helpful
00:31:43.577 -->
00:31:45.922from an evidentiary perspective.
00:31:46.206 -->
00:31:48.789Again, kind of understand if you're not allowed to do that.
00:31:49.074 -->
00:31:52.457I don't know if it would be like a violation of rights. I also know that some
00:31:52.457 -->
00:31:54.600states are not one-party consent calls.
00:31:54.948 -->
00:31:57.737So if you were to record something on your phone, you would have to disclose
00:31:57.737 -->
00:32:02.936that that's being recorded, which gets tricky because if a five-year-old can't really give consent.
00:32:03.580 -->
00:32:08.439Now, I will say they asked for feedback in the class and asked about certain things to talk about.
00:32:09.059 -->
00:32:11.828And one thing that I really wish they had talked about and I put on the eval
00:32:12.095 -->
00:32:17.940asking them to talk about it in the future is the complexity of parents being involved with this.
00:32:17.940 -->
00:32:22.900Because a lot of times the suspect or the perpetrator is somebody that is very
00:32:22.900 -->
00:32:26.921close to the victim. And a lot of times it is a parent or a relative, right?
00:32:27.357 -->
00:32:31.290And so if the parent is a perpetrator, you know, where I live and I work,
00:32:31.290 -->
00:32:35.930that parent has a legal right to be part of any interview that a child is part of.
00:32:35.930 -->
00:32:39.450And if the child wants to disclose something and does not want that parent in
00:32:39.450 -->
00:32:43.510the room, but the parent wants to be there, the hands are kind of tied because
00:32:43.510 -->
00:32:45.323the parent has a legal right to be there.
00:32:45.608 -->
00:32:49.500So I was hoping that in the future, they might be able to elaborate that on
00:32:49.500 -->
00:32:50.763that and like what sort of
00:32:51.140 -->
00:32:55.940techniques, tools or tactics can be used to help navigate a situation like that,
00:32:55.940 -->
00:32:59.710because I have been in a couple of those where you can tell the kids holding
00:32:59.710 -->
00:33:05.060back information because a parent is in the room while the kid is being interviewed.
00:33:05.060 -->
00:33:09.220So I'm hoping that I can help them develop that class a little bit with a section
00:33:09.220 -->
00:33:13.266like that added, because I think that would be really neat and very, very helpful.
00:33:13.609 -->
00:33:16.268But yeah, that is all I have on this.
00:33:17.179 -->
00:33:20.350Please let me know if this is useful to you guys at all. If you know a mandated
00:33:20.350 -->
00:33:23.389reporter, please feel free to share it with them.
00:33:23.714 -->
00:33:27.621Again, I was not intending to make an episode, like legitimately at all,
00:33:27.882 -->
00:33:31.560but this felt like something that was too important not to share,
00:33:31.560 -->
00:33:33.507especially while it was fresh on my mind.
00:33:33.809 -->
00:33:37.590You guys know my goal is to help as many people as I can, so hopefully this
00:33:37.590 -->
00:33:41.890information assists you. Heaven forbid you ever end up in a situation like this.
00:33:42.546 -->
00:33:46.983And in the meantime, please stay safe out there, take care of each other,
00:33:47.147 -->
00:33:49.747and as always, stay psyched out.