We're Listening! An Introduction to CornerHouse's Adult Interviewing Project
We're Listening! An Introduction to CornerHouse's Adult Interviewing Project
Written by Elizabeth Eagle
As a Child Advocacy Center, CornerHouse is dedicated to serving the needs of children and families affected by abuse, maltreatment and violence, but what happens when a child grows up before disclosing?
In 2020, a sergeant from the Minneapolis Police Department reached out to CornerHouse with a concept that challenged us to broaden our forensic interview intake criteria. Historically as a general practice, CornerHouse has conducted forensic interviews with children ages 2.8-18 years and adults with atypical abilities. The proposal was to expand our services to include typically abled adults that delayed reporting child sexual abuse until adulthood. The request to examine our internal practice to better meet the needs of the survivor community was motivated, in part by a deeper understanding of how trauma can affect the human experience.
In 1989, when CornerHouse was founded, it was clear that adults needed to learn how to interview children about their experiences differently. Guidelines informed by research and practice were created to train professionals on how to facilitate the best environment for children to report during child abuse, neglect and maltreatment investigations. As the child advocacy center movement surged forward, best practice applications and interviewing protocols were adapted to meet the needs of a growing field aimed at promoting the unification of investigative processes, child development, advocacy and trauma informed care.
As a Child Advocacy Center, CornerHouse is dedicated to serving the needs of children and families affected by abuse, maltreatment and violence, but what happens when a child grows up before disclosing?
There is currently a wide body of research about delayed disclosures or delayed reporting in child abuse cases. Delays in the disclosure process can be attributed to reasons such as a desire to maintain family stability, fear, shame, grooming-manipulative behavior or control, a lack of knowledge or access to supportive resources. The complexity surrounding the disclosure process becomes compounded over time, which is particularly detrimental in allegations involving child sexual abuse. According to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), only 12% of survivors will report to authorities and 60-80% will wait until adulthood before disclosing their experience.
This research has gradually begun to inform the way the legal system responds to delayed disclosures in crimes involving child sex abuse. In 2021, Rep. Gwen Moore and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand introduced the No Time Limit for Justice Act, a bill that incentivizes states to re-evaluate current timelines placed on prosecuting cases involving child sex abuse allegations. As of November 2023, eleven states abolished statute of limitations placed on all felony and misdemeanor level offenses involving child sex abuse allegations. An additional 36 states, 3 U.S. Territories and the federal government have eliminated statute of limitations for all or most felony level charges.
These trends signal a need for the examination of interviewing practices involving adult survivors, but are child advocacy centers the right fit?
Given the staggering number of individuals who will wait until adulthood to report, if they choose to do so in their lifetime, it appears that there is a potential for improvement in the way these reports are approached. CornerHouse was motivated and willing to create an opportunity to explore the possibilities of reexamining our approach to forensic interviews.
PROCESS
CornerHouse presented the proposal for the project to our multidisciplinary partners at our monthly case review to solicit feedback from each discipline. The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office offered to have multiple prosecutors review the proposal and offer an opinion. They ultimately had no concerns to report.
CornerHouse also met with representatives from the Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault (MNCASA) and Standpoint to gain further insight into additional considerations. The primary concern brought forward from these discussions was the absence of a victim advocate during the forensic interview process.
The sample population that we elected to start with were female adults between years 19-30 who may have experienced sexual abuse as children but had not made a full disclosure to authorities. CornerHouse set the sample size at 20, however we only received 15 referrals that met the criteria in the first year. CornerHouse also planned to focus the study on referents from Minneapolis Police Department, however it was opened to two additional departments to secure additional cases.
CONSIDERATIONS
Forensic interviews for children have been conducted at Children’s Advocacy Centers (CAC) for nearly forty years. It is a collaborative way to bring together investigative parties, reduce duplications in investigative processes and limit the amount of times that a survivor must share their experience. CACs are designed to be child friendly colorful environments equipped with toys, child friendly activities like coloring, games and foosball tables to help reduce anxiety before and after an interview. This may not feel like an appropriate fit for an adult survivor of sexual abuse to make a report. Due to the limitations of our current space, CornerHouse cannot adapt to the environment in a way that would make the lobby area feel less child focused. To adjust for this, each client was fully informed by the referent and CornerHouse staff about what they could expect when they arrived at the center. The interview rooms have no artwork or other distinguishable features that would make an individual feel that they are in a child focused center.
Due to the forensic nature of the process, only the interviewer and the client are present during the session, unless a language interpreter is required or requested by the client. This is a voluntary process available for individuals that do not feel comfortable in a traditional police setting. They are fully informed of the process before arriving and are continually made aware that they can take breaks at any time. Advocates have remained in the lobby as a source of support while the interview takes place. The client was reassured they could ask to see their advocate at any point in the process.
The traditional multidisciplinary team is comprised of a county attorney, law enforcement and/or child protection investigator forensic interviewer, CornerHouse advocates, and medical providers from the Center for Safe and Healthy Children. The stakeholders for adult interviews would not include child protection or our traditional medical partners. We are continuing to explore what partnerships would be appropriate for these types of interviews. To date it has strictly been limited to the law enforcement, county attorney, forensic interviewer and the CornerHouse advocate.
This is a unique adaptation to CAC services. During preliminary research it was discovered that like CornerHouse, some CACs have provided a limited number of interviews for adult survivors. The Forensic Center of Excellence (TXFNE), in Houston Texas is the only center that has been found to be dedicated exclusively to providing holistic services to adults under the CAC model of a multidisciplinary team approach.
Conculsion
An important objective of this project is to identify areas of research to explore pertaining to the disclosure process. CornerHouse is frequently asked to provide testimony directly related to the disclosure process, including but not limited to; delays, inconsistent statements, recantation, and incremental disclosures. The forensic interviews of adult survivors have gleaned valuable insight into the disclosure process of individuals. They have been able to describe challenges or barriers to their disclosure over a significant period. They have identified points where they believed they had sufficiently disclosed their experiences and their perception of the action that was taken. They gave robust insight into the normality of the recantation/reaffirmation process. They consistently appear to present similarly to the children and adolescents seen for forensic interviews. Their capacity for encoding the events that took place remains true to the developmental ability they had at the time the incidents occurred.
To learn more about the complexities and necessity to continue to find ways to support adult survivors please visit:
RAINN | The nation's largest anti-sexual violence organization