Forensic interviews provide children with a safe place to speak about their experience to experts who will listen to them, protect them and help them heal. It is a fact-finding conversation to collect evidence of possible abuse. A forensic interview discovers the child’s reality about their experience. Prior to Baton Rouge Children Advocacy Center, children relived the trauma of abuse repeatedly by having to detail the abuse to police, medical professionals, child protection specialists and others separately.

Now, our forensic interviews minimize trauma by ensuring that the child is able to provide the account in their own words and only has to detail the abuse to one adult. The interview is recorded in order to reduce the need for the child to relive the trauma by repeating the information to multiple agencies. These recorded interviews are one of the most effective and reliable ways to present the findings to the investigative team and to the court.

Forensic interviewers are specially trained to ask child victims a series of unbiased, non-leading questions to elicit information about the abuse in an age – and developmentally-appropriate manner. During the interview, the child and the interviewer meet one-on-one. Our partners observe the interview through a closed circuit monitoring system, so they can collect evidence for their investigations.