Social workers’ knowledge about children’s memory and child interviewing

The Child Protective Services (CPS) can be prominent actors in child abuse investigations as they often conduct the first safety assessment upon receiving a report of concern for a child. As part of this assessment, CPS may conduct an interview with the child. However, to date, little is known about how these interviews are conducted. The present study aimed to shed light on Swedish social workers' experience with interviewing children and knowledge about children's memory and witness abilities. A total of 204 social workers participated in an online survey and answered questions concerning memory functioning and interviewing children about suspected abuse. Responses were analyzed using qualitative (content analyses) and quantitative (descriptive) approaches. The main findings concern a lack of standardized interviewing guidelines, with CPS workers instead using various interviewing techniques with limited empirical support. When asked to elaborate on the challenges they perceived interviewing children, many mentioned the difficulty of asking proper questions. A few expressed feeling unequipped for the task of interviewing children. Further, participants' knowledge regarding children's memory varied. Many expressed awareness that memories can be vulnerable to suggestion and that emotions cannot verify a memory's authenticity. However, participants were more insecure regarding the possibility of repressing and, subsequently, recovering memories. Improvement is required; CPS needs further education and support when conducting interviews with children regarding suspected abuse. Implementing a research-based method can facilitate these interviews and improve children's right to be heard and legal certainty.