Intra-Familial Sexual Abuse Dynamics and Intervention

This new 2-day course builds on the overview of sexual abuse first presented to new child protective personnel in Core training. Specifically designed for child protective personnel as a prerequisite to Sexual Abuse Interviewing, the course gives an overview of intra-familial sexual abuse: how it happens, who commits it and why, and the known consequences for family members. The course focuses on safety and risk reducing intervention decisions and practices incorporating concepts and principles from the NYS Risk Assessment and Services Model, family preservation, and multi-disciplinary team models and protocols as discussed in the Institute's Coordinated Intra-Familial Sexual Abuse Intervention curriculum.

Objectives

• Identify and distinguish the mandates, roles, agendas and decision-points of CPS, law enforcement, health and mental health at each stage of intervention, and the differences between a therapeutic/clinical interview and an investigative interview Teach ways to assess the dynamics in intra-familial sex abuse from a systems perspective and how to identify familial, individual, and environmental factors which increase a family's vulnerability to sexual abuse
• Teach factors which increase a family's susceptibility to sexual abuse
• Describe the components of a model community-based team approach and identify the benefits of and ways to counteract problems interfering with the team approach
• Learn and implement effective intervention strategies

Outcomes

• identify the safety and risk reduction interventions that can be used in intra-familial sexual abuse situations
• discuss the uses of interview tools, such as: drawings, map of site where incident(s) occurred and their use in child interviews
• discuss the importance of cultural awareness in the interviewing of children
• identify key issues in assessing safety and risk through interviewing siblings and the non-offending parent/caretaker
• discuss the responsibilities and issues in handling the perpetrator interview
• address the importance of monitoring/tracking
• identify the tasks in the case planning and treatment phase
• discuss issues in team decision making and problem solving

Intended Audience

Outline

Day 1 presents the dynamics of intra-familial sexual abuse and the impacts on intervention; pre-intervention planning; interviewing the victim, family members and perpetrator, and interviewing protocols; and assessing safety and family functioning.

Day 2 continues with the review of the steps of intervention through the investigation and safety assessment through service planning and treatment for all family members; presents legal and evidentiary issues; discusses coordination issues between multi-disciplinary team members on interviews, decision-making and clarifies roles and responsibilities of the team members; and discusses team dynamics and problem-solving techniques.

Training Methodology

Materials