Psychological Assessment of Alleged Child Sexual Abuse Victims

Assessment: Nuts and Bolts

First Tool: Relationship Building: develop rapport; be therapeutic, not traumatic to the child.

Guidelines:

1. Interview the child alone if at all possible. If parents or siblings are in the room, the information from the child could be biased. This may definitely be questioned in court.
2. Keep hands off the child. Even touch meant to be encouraging or reassuring may be associated in the child's mind with past abuse.
3. Explain your role to the child in developmentally appropriate language. Include the child, at a developmentally appropriate level, in the process of "informed consent". Informed consent will also be necessary, with the legal guardian giving permission for the assessment.
4. The orientation of the psychologist in an assessment is to objectively explore the best needs of the child and to avoid bias due to alliances with family/agencies etc.
5. Psychologists should avoid multiple relationships that could potentially bias or place at risk the objectivity of their primary role.

Hints:

1. Although psychological evaluators differ with each other in their opinions, many psychologists prefer to get family information and special details regarding the allegations before meeting with the child. The issue at stake is a trade-off between basing conclusions on the most comprehensive information possible vs. maintaining maximum objectivity through avoiding influence from other persons' biases.
2. Get on the child's level. Use toys, drawings, toy phones, puppets, etc. to interact with child (see web site section by Ethel Amacher for detailed description of child-friendly forms of communication and information gathering approaches).