Child Interviewing Best Practices for Social Workers

This training will help child welfare social workers improve their skills in interviewing children about allegations of abuse, neglect, and exploitation during the investigative and ongoing phases of casework.

After attending this training, participants will be able to:

• Recognize the purpose and phases involved in the 10-Step Investigative Interview protocol to enhance quality engagement and obtain quality information from children
• Demonstrate (through a case scenario) the 10-step protocol by practicing the skills necessary to conduct a quality interview when assessing for child maltreatment
• Conduct developmentally and culturally sensitive, child-centered interviews with children
• Identify and demonstrate the use of question types that elicit the most accurate, detailed information from children
• Create best practice global assessment questions for assessing all forms of child maltreatment as guided by SDM Safety Assessment and Penal Code definitions