There is an ongoing investigation
This section is intended to provide guidance on speaking to children who are involved in an ongoing investigation in relation to child sexual abuse.
What is the purpose of your discussion?
At this stage, the purpose of your discussions with the child will depend on your role. You may be a Police officer who is responsible for investigating the case, or you may be a teacher who is working with the child while the case is under investigation. If your role is to support the child through an investigation, outside of formal procedures, this section of the guidance gives you some suggestions on how you might do this. You might worry about how much to say to the child or what you should or shouldn’t say but the most important thing to know is that you can talk to the child about anything other than contents of the Achieving Best Evidence interview. (link to ABE guidance).
Consider the context
In thinking about how you communicate with a child who is involved in an ongoing investigation, you will need to consider the context for the child. Think about what is happening for them and how you can best support with that. Some examples of things to consider are;
Points to consider when talking to the child
Engaging in school or college work can be challenging for children who are involved in an investigation. However, for some children, they will appear more focused as they attempt to divert their focus onto something other than the investigation. Some things that may be useful for education staff to consider are;
Whatever the nature of the investigation and regardless of the stage this is at, the following suggestions should be considered when you are supporting a child;
What questions can I ask?
It is important to remember that criminal investigations can take a long time to conclude and consequently it is important that you don’t put things ‘on hold’ whilst this is happening. For example, there is often a view that children cannot be engaged in therapeutic support whilst an investigation is ongoing. However, it is not in the best interests of the child to wait for support and children should be offered any support that is useful to them. The only caveat to this, as mentioned above, is that the content of the ABE interview must not be discussed with the child.
You might worry about what you can and cannot say to a child who is involved in an investigation but there are lots of things you can still talk to the child about and it is important to remember the basics here. Ask the child;
Talking to parents / carers
Parents and carers whose child is going through any form of investigation are likely to be experiencing a number of challenges. A non-criminal investigation will consider the whole family and parents and carers may feel blamed by professionals around them. Similarly, criminal investigations can be extremely challenging for families to manage.
This section is intended to provide guidance on speaking to children who are involved in an ongoing investigation in relation to child sexual abuse.
What is the purpose of your discussion?
At this stage, the purpose of your discussions with the child will depend on your role. You may be a Police officer who is responsible for investigating the case, or you may be a teacher who is working with the child while the case is under investigation. If your role is to support the child through an investigation, outside of formal procedures, this section of the guidance gives you some suggestions on how you might do this. You might worry about how much to say to the child or what you should or shouldn’t say but the most important thing to know is that you can talk to the child about anything other than contents of the Achieving Best Evidence interview. (link to ABE guidance).
Consider the context
In thinking about how you communicate with a child who is involved in an ongoing investigation, you will need to consider the context for the child. Think about what is happening for them and how you can best support with that. Some examples of things to consider are;
- Can adjustments be made to the day-to-day expectations placed on the child? For example, if the child has attended an ABE interview recently, what adjustments might need to be made at school?
- Is the person who has sexually abused the child able to make contact with the child? Think about possible online contact here.
- How is the child managing on a day-to-day basis? Do they need any additional support?
- How does the child communicate and are there any barriers to this? If so, how will you work to overcome these barriers?
- Who can the child talk to about their worries, think about having a named person in each of the settings they attend, e.g. school and youth club.
Points to consider when talking to the child
Engaging in school or college work can be challenging for children who are involved in an investigation. However, for some children, they will appear more focused as they attempt to divert their focus onto something other than the investigation. Some things that may be useful for education staff to consider are;
- Who in the school needs to know about this? Not everyone will know and it may be the role of a DSL, for example, to liaise with the class teacher
- Does the child need any adjustments to be made? E.g. a room they can use if they need some time out, a point of contact then can go to?
- Let the child know “I am here for you”, “if you want to talk I am here”, “I care about how you are feeling”
- Consider the material you are covering in lessons. For example, you may want to consider talking to the child before delivering any PHSE sessions.
- Allow the child to phone home if they want to
- Be aware of anyone who should not have contact with the child. For example, family of the person who has abused the child
- Be aware of behaviours that may demonstrate distress or indicate the child needs support
Whatever the nature of the investigation and regardless of the stage this is at, the following suggestions should be considered when you are supporting a child;
- Provide reassurance
- The child may need regular reassurance that they are safe and you may notice a regression to younger behaviours such as bed wetting. The child may seek constant reassurance and will need to receive constant messages that “you are safe”, “I am here for you” and “this wasn’t your fault”.
- The child may want to talk about what happened constantly or not at all and it will be important that they are given the opportunity to do whatever is helpful to them
- Be attuned to the needs of the child
- Keep the child informed
What questions can I ask?
It is important to remember that criminal investigations can take a long time to conclude and consequently it is important that you don’t put things ‘on hold’ whilst this is happening. For example, there is often a view that children cannot be engaged in therapeutic support whilst an investigation is ongoing. However, it is not in the best interests of the child to wait for support and children should be offered any support that is useful to them. The only caveat to this, as mentioned above, is that the content of the ABE interview must not be discussed with the child.
You might worry about what you can and cannot say to a child who is involved in an investigation but there are lots of things you can still talk to the child about and it is important to remember the basics here. Ask the child;
- How are you?
- How are you feeling?
- How are you sleeping?
- How are you eating?
- Is there anything I can do to help?
- Is there anything you need?
Talking to parents / carers
Parents and carers whose child is going through any form of investigation are likely to be experiencing a number of challenges. A non-criminal investigation will consider the whole family and parents and carers may feel blamed by professionals around them. Similarly, criminal investigations can be extremely challenging for families to manage.
Reflection Point
Criminal investigations can be challenging for professionals to navigate and regardless of your role, you are likely to feel an emotional investment in this process. Think about how you can access support and how you can look after your own emotional wellbeing.