Guidelines for Interviewing Children During Child Custody Evaluations

Full text for this resource is not available from the Research Repository.

Powell, M and Lancaster, Sandra (2003) Guidelines for Interviewing Children During Child Custody Evaluations. Australian Psychologist, 38 (1). pp. 46-54. ISSN 0005-0067

Abstract

This paper offers a brief review of the current literature related to the interviewing of children during child custody evaluations. In particular, the paper highlights several key issues and concerns, and provides a series of recommendations for professionals working in this area. These recommendations (which apply to children aged 3 to 12 years) are organised under the following headings: (a) establish rapport using broad open-ended questions, (b) make the purpose and ground rules of the interview clear to the child, (c) allow the child's perspective be heard without expecting an outright custody preference, (d) demonstrate a willingness to consider all reasonable perspectives or hypotheses about what has occurred, (e) try not to exacerbate the child's stress or guilt, (f) pursue all possible explanations for a child's report, irrespective of whether there are clear signs of “coaching” or contamination, (g) obtain appropriate training in the use of forensic interviewing techniques, and (h) engage in research on the impact of children's participation in custody cases.

Dimensions Badge

Altmetric Badge

Item type Article
URI https://vuir.vu.edu.au/id/eprint/2485
DOI 10.1080/00050060310001707017
Official URL http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00050060310001707017
Subjects Historical > Faculty/School/Research Centre/Department > School of Social Sciences and Psychology
Historical > FOR Classification > 1702 Cognitive Science
Keywords ResPubID10183, children, child, interview, rapport
Citations in Scopus 29 - View on Scopus
Download/View statistics View download statistics for this item

Search Google Scholar

Repository staff login