abstract: Child advocacy centers provide a safe, child-friendly environment for the forensic interview and subsequent investigation of child victimization cases. However, very little research has examined the effects of burnout, secondary trauma, and organizational stressors on forensic interviewers. The goal of the present project was addressing the following research questions. Do forensic interviewers experience burnout and secondary trauma associated with their profession? How do organizational stressors mitigate or increase these effects among forensic interviewers? Data was collected by conducting an online survey of forensic interviewers working at child advocacy centers across the United States. Specifically, burnout was measured with the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory, and secondary trauma was measured with the Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale (STSS). The current study utilized bivariate correlations, and OLS regression models to analyze the effects of burnout, secondary trauma, and organizational stressors on forensic interviewers. The results indicate burnout and secondary trauma among interviewers in the sample. Job support, funding constraints, and heavy caseloads all influence the outcome measures. Policy recommendations include continued education, training, and mental health services for forensic interviewers. Future researchers should conduct qualitative interviews and expand on variables within the current dataset such as note taking, peer evaluations, and forensic interviewing protocols in order to gain further insight into this population. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Criminology and Criminal Justice 2019

ABSTRACT MATERNAL PERCEPTIONS AND RESPONSES TO CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE by Elizabeth U. Willingham Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a complex phenomenon that requires various levels of intervention to address the safety, recovery, and prevention needs of children and families who have experienced victimization. Although there is a large body of literature that has identified and examined many aspects of CSA (Putnam, 2003), less is known about nonoffending caregivers of sexually abused children. The one consistent finding across studies that have investigated CSA, nonoffending caregivers, and traumatic stress in children is the importance the of child-caregiver relationship in facilitating recovery (Elliot & Carnes, 2001; Scheeringa & Zeanah, 2001). CSA is stressful for both the child and the caregiver, and it affects the child-caregiver relationship. Studies are needed to determine the underlying factors and processes that contribute to nonoffending caregivers’ stress and coping responses, supportive and protective reactions, and intervention needs as they relate to supporting their children’s recovery and healing the family unit. This exploratory study examined the phenomenological experiences of mothers whose children had been sexually abused. In-depth exploration and systematic analysis of mothers’ perceptions about their children’s victimization, their reaction, and their distress using constructivist grounded theory methods (Charmaz & Corbin, 2005) provided a better understanding of the mothers’ collective experience and response. This study used theoretical sampling (Miles & Huberman, 1994) for participant selection. The researcher interviewed 14 mothers of children who had been sexually abused and had received services at a child advocacy center. Two key informants were also interviewed to obtain a detailed conceptualization of the theoretical and practical aspects of the programs and services at the child advocacy. The findings from this naturalistic, phenomenological inquiry revealed that the mothers experienced crisis and traumatic distress following their children’s disclosure. The findings also showed that even in the midst of traumatic distress and grief, the mothers did believe and protect their children. In addition, the results of this study highlight how maternal supportive responses are interdependent on numerous factors, especially their capacity to cope with past abuse, current distress, and their level of emotional and financial dependency on their child’s perpetrator.

This is a qualitative study based on interviews with professionals who are cooperating at a children advocacy center, in swedish called “Barnahus”. The center, Barnahus, pulls together law enforcement, criminal justice, child protective service, medical and mental health workers in to one coordinated team. Children suspected to be victims of any kind of violence or sexual abuse shall, at Barnahus, be offered coordinated efforts and support all the way from suspicion to possible intervention.   The aim of the study is to examine how the participants involved relate to collaboration in Barnahus. The study will also present the success factors and barriers to collaboration that identifies by the participating actors, who are mentioned above. The study will provide insight and understanding of how collaboration can be represented in multiprofessional activities in practice.

Thesis--Auburn University, 2005. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographic references (p.36-38).

Syftet var att utforska vad som är viktigt i ett krisstöd till barn efter ett barnförhör. Metodensom användes var semistrukturerade intervjuer med fyra krisstödjare ur kristeamet i en svenskkommun. Resultatet analyserades utifrån systemteori och salutogenes. Resultatet visade attden juridiska processen, som ska tillvarata barnens rättigheter, även bidrar till krisen, samt attdet är föräldrarna som behöver byggas upp för att kunna stötta sitt barn. Ett tredje resultat varatt krisstödjarna upplever att de gör stor nytta i den akuta krisen, men att den dörr som dåöppnas in till familjen ofta hinner stängas innan det sätts in fortsatta resurser som kan leda tillverklig förändring. Utifrån grundantagandet att barnen ska hamna i en bättre situation efteråtän de gjorde innan, diskuterades sedan om krisstödjarna kunde fullgöra denna uppgift medmetoden de använder. / The aim of this study was to explore what is considered important in a crisis supportintervention after child interrogation at a child advocacy center. The method used was semistructuredinterviews with four social workers in the crisis support team. The analysis wasbased on systems theory and salutogenesis. The result showed that the legal process,constructed to protect children’s rights, also contributes to the crisis. It showed that the parentsneed to be strengthened in order to support the child. The social workers feel that they help thefamilies in the first crisis, but a lack of resources prevent them from continuing the support,missing the chance to real change. We discusses how well the social workers could helpputting children in a better position than before, with the crisis support method.

Syftet med denna studien har varit att undersöka hur socialtjänstens stöd till barn efter polisförhör ser ut när föräldrar misstänks för att ha utsatt barnen för våld. Vi har undersökt socialkontor i Norrbottens län som inte är anslutna till ett Barnahus eller erbjuder strukturerat stöd till målgruppen. För att uppfylla studiens syfte har vi genomfört en enkätstudie riktad till chefer inom samtliga socialtjänster inom Norrbottens län och hållit kvalitativa intervjuer med sju socialsekreterare som i sitt arbete kommer i kontakt med barn som kan bli föremål för polisförhör. Studien visade att avsaknad av en strukturerad metod ger socialsekreterarna handlingsutrymme att bevilja stöd och gör detta utifrån individuella bedömningar av barnets behov. Stödet till barn i Norrbottens län ser därför olika ut beroende på vilken socialsekreterare barnet möter. Det framkommer att organisationerna har brustit i att ta fram rutiner som är ändamålsenliga för klientgruppen då flera informanter beskriver att de saknar rutiner att luta sig mot när det kommer till vissa aspekter av arbetet med barn i samband med polisförhör. Detta blir särskilt viktigt för de med liten eller ingen praktisk erfarenhet men även för de med mer erfarenhet för att minska risken för godtyckliga bedömningar. Samverkan mellan socialtjänst och polis beskrivs fungera bra i vissa kommuner men inte alls i andra. Tidigare forskning visar att en faktor som spelar in för bra samverkan är samlokalisering vilket flera av kommunerna saknar då polis inte finns belägen i den egna kommunen. Norrbottens län är ett av få län i Sverige som saknar Barnahus och det finns ingen motsvarande funktion som på ett strukturellt plan arbetar mot att barn i Norrbottens län får en barnanpassad process och adekvat krisstöd efter att ha tagits till polisförhör. / The aim for this study was to explore the support offered by the social services to children after a police interview in cases where a parent is suspected of violence against the child. We have examined social services in the county of Norrbotten that don't cooperate with a Child Advocacy Centre (Barnahus) or use structured methods. To fulfil the aim, we sent out a questionnaire to social services managers in all local authorities, and carried out qualitative interviews with seven case workers within child welfare services. The study shows that in absence of a structured method leaves room for the case workers to grant support based on individual assessments of children's needs done in each individual case. Due to this the support to children in the county of  Norrbotten tends to differ depending on which case worker the child meets. The study shows that authorities have not implemented routines that address the specific nature of working with these clients as case workers describe a lack of routines to lean on when it comes to certain issues while working with children after a police interview. It becomes more important to those with little or no experience from these kinds of cases but routines would also contribute to lower the risk of arbitrary assessment amongst those with more experience. Cooperation between social service and police cooperates well in some municipalities while some does not. Science shows that one factor that has an impact on cooperation is co-location which is lacking in several municipalities since there is no police located in the area. The County of Norrbotten is one of few Swedish counties that lacks a Child Advocacy Centre and there is no similar function that on a structured level contributes to a child friendly interrogation process and adekvat support after experiencing a police interview in the County of Norrbotten.

Syftet med Barnahus är att barn som misstänkts blivit utsatt för våld eller övergrepp ska i en trygg och barnvänlig miljö förmedla sin upplevelse, samt hjälpa barnet genom stöd och insatser att bemästra utsattheten. Studien grundas på kvalitativa intervjuer som metod. Respondenterna som ingår i studien representerar Socialtjänsten, Polismyndigheten, Åklagarmyndigheten, Barnkliniken och Barn- och ungdomspsykiatrin. Resultatet presenterar samverkansparternas upplevelse av samverkans funktion, fördelar och brister, samt hur barnets rättigheter tillämpas i utredningsprocessen. Resultatet påvisar att respondenterna upplever samverkan i Barnahus som en möjlighet till personlig och yrkesmässig utveckling, och att samverkan över yrkesrollerna är en förutsättning för att tillgodose barnets behov av skydd och trygghet. Dock framkommer det av resultatet att parterna upplever brister i samverkan. / The purpose of Children´s Advocacy Center (Barnahus) is that the children who is suspected victim of violence or abuse, in a safe and child-friendly environment convey their experience, and help the child through support and effort to overcome the vulnerability. The study is based on qualitative interviews as a method. Respondents included in this study represent the Social Services, Police Authority, Prosecution Authority, Department of Pediatrics and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. The result presents the collaboration partners experience of collaborative functionality, advantages and deficiency, and how the child´s rights are applied in the investigation process. The results establish that the respondents experience collaboration in Children´s Advocacy Center as an opportunity for personal and professional development and collaboration across professional roles are essential to meet the child´s need for protection and security. However, it comes clear to the outcome that the parties experience deficiencies in cooperation.

During the past century, lawyers in New Orleans created a number of organizations to provide legal services for the poor, as lawyers did throughout the country. Most of those organizations provided routine service directly to individual clients and received quiet acceptance within the city and the state. However, more aggressive lawyers in other legal services offices engaged in law reform or challenged politically powerful interests. These offices found themselves embroiled in controversy and facing impediments that were placed in the way of their work. This dissertation introduces nonprofit legal services in New Orleans, but focuses on and investigates the experiences of four organizations – the New Orleans Legal Assistance Corporation, the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic, the Louisiana Capital Assistance Center, and the Advocacy Center – that were involved in controversies. This investigation differs from most prior studies of legal assistance in several ways. First, it discusses a variety of local legal service organizations rather than concentrating on the legal aid movement of the first half of the twentieth century, or the later Legal Services Program and its successor Legal Services Corporation. Secondly, it provides detailed discussion of several New Orleans legal services, which had previously been limited to scrutiny of the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic. Most importantly, it goes beyond description to provide causal explanation for the controversies by reference to social structure, and the social mechanisms and social processes at work. The dissertation presents access to law by the poor as being a form of "largesse" or charity or gift, which is granted when it is convenient for the powerful, but withheld when it is inconvenient for the powerful. From this perspective, the controversies resulted from the opposing interests of the two major social classes in modern capitalist society, with the politically powerful objecting to certain legal victories or gains achieved by the poor. In addition to the New Orleans cases, the dissertation refers to other legal services offices throughout the country that experienced similar problems. This demonstrates that the underlying issues are not limited to the city of New Orleans or the state of Louisiana, but are national in scope.

Barnahus (Children’s Advocacy Center) is a collaboration between authorities, created to increase the quality of crime investigations while promoting the child’s best interest and health. Due to the complexity of detecting domestic violence, it is difficult to investigate and conduct interrogations of children in a legally secure manner whilst avoiding secondary traumatization. This study aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of this process by examining how social workers’ experience cases where there is suspicion of domestic violence at Barnahus in Skåne, Sweden.By utilizing a qualitative interview method, we interviewed seven social workers in Skåne about their experiences within Barnahus. The conducted interviews focused on four areas: (1) the social worker's experience of collaboration with the other authorities within Barnahus (2) the cooperation and building of an alliance with the family after a child’s hearing, (3) the child as a victim of crime from a legal point of view (4) the social workers’ liberty in taking actions in terms of interventions. The material gathered from the interviews was later sorted using an empirically-controlled qualitative thematic method and analyzed using theories of power, ethics and sociology of law.The study concludes that needs and available resources steers Barnahus operation despite national guidelines. Thus, there is a need to assess and create a flexibility regarding whether or not one should take in a child for interrogation. Further on, all social workers were unanimous in the experience that it is more difficult to approach the family, to provide interventions, when the case begins at Barnahus. The informants also confirmed the perception of the legal perspective as primary. Lastly, we found that there is a big gap between compulsive interventions and interventions with consent. We discovered that there is an ongoing discussion based on the social secretaries' desire for opportunities of middle-care and a resistance from those who believe that social services should be built on consent.

Studiens syfte var att undersöka hur professionella på Barnahus skapar förutsättningar för barn att berätta om sexuella övergrepp. Datainsamlingen i denna kvalitativa studie gjordes genom nio semistrukturerade intervjuer och materialet analyserades mot kommunikationsteori och med hjälp av en tematisk nätverksanalys. Resultatet visade att professionella måste ha kunskap om barn och olika samtalsmetoder samt att det måste finnas en beredskap för att ta emot barnets berättelse. Studien visade även att en struktur för samtalet och att skapa trygghet för barnet är framgångsfaktorer för att barn ska våga berätta om sexuella övergrepp.Mer forskning behövs för att utveckla trygga samtalsmetoder för att möjliggöra för fler barn att berätta om övergreppen. / The aim of the study was to investigate how professionals at Children’s advocacy center (Barnahus) create conditions for children to talk about sexual abuse. The data in this qualitative study was collected through nine semi-structured interviews and the material was analyzed with thematic network analysis. Communication theory was used as an theoretical frame. The results showed that professionals must have knowledge of children and different counseling methods, and they must be prepared to listen to the child´s story. The study also showed that a structure for the conversation and creating security for the child are success factors helping children to tell about sexual abuse. More research is needed to develop safe conversation and counseling methods to enable more children to tell about the abuse.