A guest speaker at school discusses personal safety and the sensitive subject of child maltreatment, informing the group of second-graders that some secrets do not need to be kept. Impacted by the lesson, a student approaches his instructor and asks, “if my friend told me a really bad secret, should I tell?” After a handful of follow-up questions, the child shares that his best friend, Billy, told him that Billy’s father was touching his butt with his “private part.”

Having a reasonable suspicion that Billy is being sexually abused, the teacher makes a mandated report to social services. The case is screened in, and Billy is brought to a Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC)—one of hundreds of facilities accredited by the National Children’s Alliance to assess child maltreatment allegations.

Billy is questioned by a forensic interviewer, someone specially trained to speak with children about abuse, and the interview is audio and videorecorded. The interviewer spends time building rapport with Billy and practices getting the child to speak in a narrative style6 by asking for details about a neutral event from beginning to end. The interviewer also asks the child about family, people the child lives with, and things they may do with the family and other people in their lives.

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