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The Role of Law Enforcement in the Response to Child Abuse and Neglect
User Manual Series (1992)

Author(s):  U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Donna Pence, Charles Wilson

Year Published:  1992

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You are in section: Table of Contents Additional Acknowledgment Preface Acknowledgments Introduction 1 - Overview Of The Child… 2 - Role Of Law Enforcement In… 3 - The Investigative Process 4 - Decision Making 5 - Special Considerations For… 6 - Special Types Of Investigations 7 - Special Investigative… 8 - Issues in Arrest Conclusion Glossary Of Terms Notes Selected Bibliography Other Resources

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Decision Making

Validation

At the heart of the investigative process is the decision regarding the validation of the allegations. Validation is the process of determining if abuse has occurred or, for CPS, whether risk of maltreatment is imminent. It is a term borrowed from CPS and may be used interchangeably with "substantiation," "indicated," or "founded" in some jurisdictions. More than a belief that the maltreatment has occurred, validation is based on substantial evidence. This decision does not require the same evidentiary standard as that of a criminal prosecution. As noted earlier, even when sufficient evidence is lacking for a criminal prosecution or abuse has not yet occurred, children can still be protected through skillful CPS intervention and/or the civil protections of the juvenile or family court.

Physical Abuse and Neglect

The decision regarding validation of alleged physical abuse is a comparatively straightforward process. Physical abuse leaves physical evidence of the assault on the child, which can be observed, documented by a physician, and photographed for evidence. Other tests that can document presence of physical abuse include: X-rays, lab tests (e.g., for poisoning), etc. The officer investigating a physical abuse case should weigh various factors.

Medical Evidence

Medical evidence is the findings of licensed physicians or qualified medical practitioners that support or refute the allegations. This evidence may document injuries or conditions and explain how the injury or condition could have been sustained. Of particular interest are injuries medically inconsistent with the explanations offered by the caretaker, injuries consistent with inflicted trauma, or conditions that are the result of willful actions or inactions of caretakers.

Admission of the Perpetrator

This is self-explanatory: an individual acknowledges full or partial responsibility for causing the injury or condition.

Credible Witnesses

Individuals who support or refute the allegation and are willing to do so in court are credible witnesses. Care must be exercised to assess the credibility of persons offering statements who may have a bias about the incident, child, or perpetrator.

Mental Health Information

This information is garnered from clinical interviews, psychological test results, interpretation of tests, and interviews by qualified mental health professionals. However, mental health professionals do not have training to validate whether abuse or neglect occurred.

Victim's Statement

This statement details when, where, and how the abuse occurred and who is responsible.

Observed, Videotaped, or Photographed Injuries or Conditions

These include tapes, photographs, or other documented evidence usually produced by a licensed physician or a law enforcement officer.

Physical Evidence

Physical evidence is collected during the investigation at the crime scene (see discussion of the crime scene for physical abuse and neglect cases).

Behavioral or Physical Indicators of Abuse

These include any behaviors or physical symptoms involving the child noted by others that support or refute the allegation. For example, the teacher who sees bruises and notes that the child refused to dress for physical education class can help support other evidence of injury during the same time frame.

Sexual Abuse

Child sexual abuse presents far greater problems in validation than physical abuse, due to the nature of the abuse. For the most part, validation relies upon the same categories of evidence but with some special considerations. First, clear physical evidence is generally lacking, the abuse usually occurs secretly so no credible witnesses exist, often the child has been coerced into silence, and the victims' young age makes their statements problematic on the surface. Second, perpetrators are admitting to very serious felonies if they acknowledge their role in the abuse. Understandably, they are reluctant to do so. All of these factors make accurate validation of child sexual abuse very challenging. Defense experts at trials may well argue that every category of evidence used by investigators is invalid, yet investigators must make a reasonable determination of whether evidence exists of sexual abuse. The categories of evidence are discussed below.

Medical Findings

These are findings by a licensed physician or other qualified medical practitioner that support the allegation of sexual abuse, including a diagnosis of a sexually transmitted disease, or even pregnancy in some cases.

Admission of the Perpetrator

This is self-explanatory: the perpetrator confesses to specific sexual acts with a child.

Credible Witnesses

These are observations of child and adult witnesses, which serve to support or detract from the allegation. Extreme caution should be exercised about the credibility of witnesses (e.g., statements of parties engaged in a custody dispute).

Victim's Statement

Due to the nature of sexual abuse, many cases will hinge upon the statement of the alleged victim. Sexual abuse occurs secretly in many forms of sexual abuse (fondling, fellatio, etc.), and leaves no long-term physical findings; the perpetrators are frequently well-respected, seemingly stable people. In the 1970's, it was suggested that investigators should believe all children when they alleged abuse. Currently, however, investigators must be able to articulate exactly why they find the child's statement credible or lacking credibility. Being able to explain why the statement is credible is critical in court.

The child's statement should be considered in terms of a set of factors suggested by various practitioners and researchers in the field. Most are based on extensive experience with victims of child sexual abuse. In 1983, Sgroi, Porter, and Blick laid the foundation for this work,²³ and their concepts have been expanded and refined by others. In 1988, Faller tested some of these ideas and found that statements of child sexual abuse victims (in cases of abuse confirmed by the perpetrators) generally fit into these validation criteria identified.²⁴ Not every criterion was met in every case and, in some cases of actual abuse, the child's statement did not fit the validation framework at all (particularly with young adolescent males).²⁵

The following factors should be considered when assessing child victim statements:

• History of abuse and related behaviors.
  
  
  • Multiple incidents over time. The abusive incident, which resulted in the present referral, is probably not the first time abuse has occurred. Investigators should determine through the interview with the child if more than one incident had occurred. This situation is most common when the alleged perpetrator is a relative, friend, or caretaker of the victim.
    
    
  • Details of sexual abuse. It is important to get explicit details of the sexually abusive incidents from the child in his/her own words. The investigator may begin by establishing the child's present knowledge of appropriate/inappropriate touching and words used for genitals. The anatomically detailed dolls and art media can be useful in this process. Investigators must be careful not to lead the child and should seek the explicit information in the child's own words, which should be recorded verbatim.
    
    
  • Explicit details. Investigators should determine if the child is able to provide details of sexual activity beyond his/her developmental level. This is of greater significance with younger children than with adolescents.
    
    
  • Age-appropriate language. Investigators should consider whether the child described the details in age-appropriate language and sentence structure.²⁶ Caution should be used here as many parents teach their children the correct anatomical name for their body parts. Few young children, however, would refer to penetration as "rape" or "intercourse." Such words suggest that the child may be relying on someone else's words.
    
    
  • Experience perspective. Investigators should evaluate whether the child described the events from a participant child's point of view. For example, what did he/she feel, see, hear, taste, smell?
    
    
  • Richness of detail. As children get older, they are often able to provide details of the surrounding environment, what the perpetrator said, who else was nearby, etc. Younger children tend to focus more on the central issues of the abuse and what is happening.
    
    
  • Idiosyncratic details. Young children, even in the midst of abuse, sometimes note extraneous activities and include them in their report to the investigator. Such detail serves to support the credibility of their statement. For example, "While he had his pee thing in me, a dog started barking at the door."
    
    
  • Consistency. Investigators should consider if the child was interviewed more than once, were the responses generally consistent from one interview to the next? Many children describe additional details and even new incidents in successive interviews as they get more comfortable. Kee McFarlane described this as "peeling the onion."²⁷ Were any elements of the child's story corroborated by others or by physical evidence?
  
  
  
• Progression of sexual activity. This takes several forms.
  
  
  • Transitional behaviors. The investigator should explore what type of activities preceded the initiation of the overt sexual abuse. Many people who sexually molest children also engage in behaviors which, while not overtly sexual, serve to set up the abuse, just as an adult heterosexual male may use dinner and drinks with an adult female as a prelude to a sexual overture. This behavior includes actions that bring about nonsexual intimacy; if observed, this intimacy would appear within normal limits of adult-child contact, such as tickling, sharing a bed, bathing, or play activities. These behaviors become relevant if the child describes the first overt sexual contact in the context of the transitional behaviors. For example, "Daddy started helping Mom give me baths, then he just did it alone, and then one night while he was washing my back, his hand went inside of me."
    
    
  • Progression of sexual activity from less intrusive to more intrusive behaviors. Few perpetrators who have long-term access to their victims move immediately to intercourse. Many move more cautiously from one form of abuse to another, similar to transitional behaviors, from fondling exterior of clothes, to fondling under clothes, to penetration. The progression may occur over years, in some cases, or move rapidly in others.
    
    
  • Progression within a single incident. Investigators should determine if the child described the progressive activities leading to the abuse through such patterns as exterior clothing touching, followed by under clothing touching, to penetration. While older children may fabricate in this detail, smaller children generally lack the frame of reference to do so.
    
    

• Child's sense of time. Investigators must gather information on when and how the abuse began and how many incidents have occurred. Investigators should keep in mind that young children do not have the same sense of time as adults. They may be unable to give dates and times. The investigator must relate the incidents to some event that is meaningful for the child. The following types of questions may help in this area:

  -- Who was your teacher at that time?
  -- Did this happen before or after Christmas?
  -- Can you remember anything else that happened around that time?
  -- Was this around the time of your birthday?
  -- Was it cold outside?
  -- Was there snow on the ground?

  Sometimes children can describe what was on television at the time of the abuse or some other memorable event. The child may state that some of the other family members were on a trip out-of-State or grandmom was visiting, allowing the investigator to fix an approximate date.

  If numerous incidents have occurred, it may be confusing to sort out all the times, dates, and places. In fact, this may take several interviews to delineate several specific incidents. It is essential that the investigator establish some sense of when the abuse began, the frequency of abuse, and how it progressed through the spectrum for purposes of indictment requirements.

• Secrecy. Investigators should establish if the abuse occurred in a private place and if the child understood that the abuse was a secret.
  
  
• Pressure/coercion/enticement. Pressure, coercion, or enticement occur in two areas. First, investigators should establish how the perpetrator got the child to engage in the behavior. Did he/she entice or bribe the child; did he/she rationalize the behavior, for example, "all daddies do this;" did he/she threaten the child (anything from a loss of attention to death threats). The second type of pressure or coercion is that which is used to maintain the secret. This may range from the very subtle to the very threatening and overt. Investigators should determine what the child thought would happen if he/she told and why he/she believed this. Many perpetrators are fairly direct in warning the child not to tell, but may be more subtle in communicating the consequences of telling to the child. The pressure may range from, "You'll get in trouble," to "I won't love you anymore," to "Daddy will go to jail," to the extreme "I'll kill you," or "I'll kill your mommy."
  
  
• Affect. Officers must evaluate how the child acted during the disclosure. For example, was he/she tearful, afraid, embarrassed, anxious, or distressed? Did the affect differ when talking about less emotionally laden material and the abuse? Note that some children who have been exposed to very serious abuse may begin to disassociate from the abuse, and their affect will flatten accordingly.²⁸

The investigator should review all these factors in assessing the credibility of the child's statement. In some cases, there will be little question as to the validity of the statements. In other cases, due to the child's age, personal circumstances of fear, and anxiety over disclosure, the statement will not be clear and definite. The investigator must weigh all the factors present and consider why some are weak or absent. For example, Faller's study showed boys are less emotional in their disclosure and provide less detail than girls.²⁹

Observed, Videotaped, or Photographed Injuries or Conditions

This is documentation of physical injuries through observation from a trained physician, photographs produced by a physician or law enforcement officer, or videotapes demonstrating the conditions under which the child is living (e.g., severe physical neglect).

Physical Evidence

(See the segment on the crime scene search.) This evidence is collected during the crime scene investigation. Indicators vary with different victims.

Behavioral or Physical Factors That Might Be Indicative of Childhood Trauma

Some sexual behaviors of children are specific to sexual abuse. Other nonsexual behaviors in children may corroborate the child's disclosures. Still other behaviors in children are indicative of trauma and need to be explored for possible sexual abuse. For specific information on behavioral and physical indicators of sexual abuse, see the manual entitled Preventing and Treating Child Sexual Abuse.

Summary

The validation process should weigh all the factors described above, including those that support and refute the allegation. Based on the sum of the factors the investigator should make a determination regarding the validity of the complaint. Validation may be made based on only one factor if it is of sufficient strength. For example, the medical evidence or the child's statement alone may be compelling. However, cases should not be validated on behavioral or physical indicators or circumstantial evidence alone. If the case is valid, the investigator must determine what further action is necessary, including child protection efforts and criminal prosecution. In some cases, it will be evident that the child was abused, but the evidence to link the act or conditions to any specific perpetrator may be lacking.

Prior interviews conducted by others (either family or other investigators) may well influence the information the child shares in your interview. Knowing how and by whom these other interviews were administered is critical in evaluating material that was disclosed at the interview under validation.

Risk Assessment

Once the investigator has determined that the child has been abused, the next step is to assess the risk of further abuse. Usually, CPS staff take the lead responsibility here. Many State child protection agencies have developed/implemented risk assessment tools to guide caseworker decision making. While risk assessment tools vary from State to State, the process normally attempts to identify the factors that either place the child at greater risk of abuse (risks) or the factors that reduce the risk of future maltreatment (strengths). In assessing risk, the caseworker considers the nature of the maltreatment, location of injuries, and factors present within the parents that heighten risk, such as:

• past abusive or neglectful behavior;
  
  
• use or abuse of alcohol or drugs;
  
  
• mental instability;
  
  
• interpersonal skills;
  
  
• knowledge of child development and expectations of their children;
  
  
• how they discipline their children; and
  
  
• flexibility or rigidity of child rearing attitudes.

Often, CPS caseworkers will also consider factors present within the child that place him/her at risk such as:

• the age of the child (most child abuse related deaths occur among very young children);
  
  
• physical, mental, emotional, or social development; and
  
  
• specific behaviors that may elicit abusive behavior, such as crying, demanding, or fighting.

In sexual abuse case, risk factors may include:

• the sex and/or age of the child;
  
  
• the child's isolation from peers; or
  
  
• the child's relationship with the nonoffending spouse.
  
  

The investigator may also take into account family factors that contribute to the risk such as:

• financial pressure;
  
  
• marital conflict;
  
  
• low levels of family interaction and mutual support;
  
  
• lack of extended family support;
  
  
• little supervision;
  
  
• role reversals, with the child fulfilling adult roles and meeting adult needs; and
  
  
• the nature of the bonding between family members.
  
  

The last major category consists of environmental factors, including:

• the physical conditions of the family home;
  
  
• the nature of the community in which they live; and
  
  
• the types of supports present for the family.
  
  

Safety Planning

Having concluded that maltreatment was present and having assessed the risks to the child, the CPS caseworker will seek ways to protect the child and reduce the risk of further maltreatment. The first and foremost goal is to ensure the child's safety while maintaining him/her in his/her own home. This may be accomplished by using certain services to address the risk elements. It may mean bringing a homemaker into the home to teach the caretaker parenting skills or putting the child in day care to give the parent a respite from child care. The safety plan may involve a temporary change in living circumstances for the child (moving into a relative or friend's home) or moving the alleged offender pending the outcome of the investigation. In sexual abuse cases, the plan may call for the alleged offender to move out of the home.

Law enforcement can play a key role in developing and enforcing such plans in cases where criminal prosecution is initiated. Following arrest, restrictions can be placed using a bond arrangement that requires the alleged offender to live elsewhere and have no unauthorized contact with the victim. Failure to comply with the agreement could lead to revocation of the bond and incarceration. "No contact" orders and civil protection orders may also be sought to help provide some authority to a safety plan.

Removal from the Home

When all reasonable interventions that would protect the child in his/her own home have been examined but none are found suitable, removal from the home and placement in State custody may be necessary to protect the child from harm. Police officers may have to act in an emergency, but the likelihood of maintaining custody is enhanced if the decision to remove is made with juvenile or family court concurrence or at least in cooperation with CPS staff and their attorneys. Generally, removal from home and placement in foster care causes a total disruption of the child's life, including a loss of familiar surroundings, possessions, pets, friends, and family. The children frequently must change schools and move into totally unknown surroundings. This experience is very traumatic in its own right and should be avoided when possible. For this reason, CPS staff will explore possible relative placements or other avenues to minimize the negative impact of removal on children.

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You are in section: Table of Contents Additional Acknowledgment Preface Acknowledgments Introduction 1 - Overview Of The Child… 2 - Role Of Law Enforcement In… 3 - The Investigative Process 4 - Decision Making 5 - Special Considerations For… 6 - Special Types Of Investigations 7 - Special Investigative… 8 - Issues in Arrest Conclusion Glossary Of Terms Notes Selected Bibliography Other Resources

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Updated on December 10, 2007