Child & Adolescent Sexual Child Abuse Investigation and Prevention Consultant

Our Trainings

IT Takes Team to Protect A Child: The Experience of Little Suzy

While all CACs and MDTs are involved in a practice, Best Practice recognizes the importance of utilizing a victim-centered, trauma-informed, coordinated multidisciplinary response to child maltreatment and exploitation.  But what does this really mean?

This presentation will walk you through the disclosure/outcry process of victims before and after MDT intervention, using “Lil’ Suzy” as an example of what can happen after multiple uncoordinated interviews.  This practical, interactive, demonstrative presentation will expose the most common problems and challenges faced by MDTs and CACs in a frank, yet humorous way, and offer solutions. 

We will highlight the cause of the obstacles in the response process and how to address them.  We will also discuss best practice principles needed to attain our goal of a functional multidisciplinary team.  

1.5-hour training

Our Trainings

It Takes a Team to Protect a Child – Making the Case: MDT Investigative Corroboration

Pre-Requisite: It Takes a Team to Protect a Child: “The Experience of Lil’ Suzy”, 
MDT Investigative Corroboration Part One

The Corroborative Points Investigative Technique is not a departure from, but an addition to, the traditional Who, What, When, Where, and Why of an investigation.  It seeks to place the investigator inside the mindset of prosecutors who are required to bolster (corroborate) every statement, element, and point made in the case.

Corroborative Points have different “values.”  Some, such as a detailed confession, can stand alone.  Others, such as theme pornography, may not prove an offense, they are still supportive of the allegation.  Better yet, Constellations of Corroborative Points, though individually circumstantial, can – and have – the ability to prove cases.

An investigator’s effectiveness is rooted in his ability to know and utilize the advantages and disadvantages of these techniques and, with consideration of certain Windows of Opportunity, administer them in a timely investigative manner.  Multidisciplinary skills-based training in our communities should focus instruction on these “skill sets.”

Utilizing an interview of a sexually abused child, this instructive skills-based training educates attendees on the “how to’s” of working together as a multidisciplinary team in order to gather the information necessary to investigate allegations of abuse while protecting the needs of the child victim.   

This is an interactive, dynamic MDT training which emphasizes identifying “details, details, details” and corroborating those details. MDT members will discuss the next steps in an investigation: witness interviews, arrest, interrogation, protective factors, types of evidence, identification and collection.  Attendees will, in real time, watch an interview of a sexually abused child and, based on the information provided, determine the next ten steps in the investigation, protection, crime scene evaluation, evidence identification and collection. 

Attendees will present their findings on how to proceed and identify who will do what and when.  Presentation includes a discussion of different types of investigative corroboration that can be utilized to prove, support and bolster the victim interview.

Strongly recommended for multidisciplinary teams to attend and participate together – especially Law Enforcement, DCFS and Forensic Interviewers.

3-hour or day long training

Our Trainings

Victimology: For the Criminal Investigator Understanding the Victim of Sexual Abuse and Exploitation

Law Enforcement investigation sensitivity towards the needs of both victims and caregivers is a topic not taught in traditional Basic Investigation training.   

What does being victim-sensitive and trauma-informed mean, and what is the significance for us in our Law Enforcement investigations?  The answer is simple: there is direct bearing on our investigative mission to secure objective, factual, detailed information, and the subsequent investigative corroboration.  An investigator’s knowledge and sensitivity toward the child victim and non-offending parent has a direct bearing on an investigator’s ability to better assess and subsequently investigate the information gained.

Specific training issues to be presented include the stages of victimization, secondary victimization, the Child Abuse Accommodation Syndrome, sexual abuse traumagenics, and PTSD behaviors.  Common defense mechanisms and dissociative disorders exhibited by sexually abused, exploited and trafficked children will be discussed from a Law Enforcement perspective.  Best Practice tips on recognition, documentation and practical ways to respond to these issues will also be reviewed.

1.5-hour to 3-hour training

Our Trainings

Gaining Cooperation From and Supporting Suspected Non-Offending caregivers in Abuse, AHT and Child Death Investigations

This workshop will focus on the role of the non-offending parent/caregiver in sexual abuse cases, identify problems encountered in gaining their support during the investigative process, and discuss their essential role in obtaining cooperation from the child.

Non-offending parents or caretakers are important sources of information during the investigation and assessment of a child.  Support or lack of support for the child is a crucial factor, since parental involvement can be either a tremendous help or hindrance to investigators, prosecutors and treatment providers through the criminal and/or civil process.

The training will cover topics including feelings and reactions by non-offending parents after their child discloses sexual abuse, reasons why a parent might choose to stay with the alleged offender, what causes parents to withdraw or avoid investigators and treatment providers, what agencies can do to gain cooperation from these parents, and questions you might want to ask the non-offending parent or caretaker.

This workshop is appropriate for state protective investigators, law enforcement, child protection teams, counselors, attorneys, and anyone else who provides services to sexually abused children or their families.  It also assists professionals in gaining cooperation from non-offending parents, which can increase an intervener's ability to make informed, fact-based decisions.  It will provide helpful information that can be used with all populations, and will encourage team process and cooperation among all disciplines. 

1.5-hour to 3-hour training

Our Trainings

Understanding Child Sex Offenders and other Sexual Deviants

Understanding how a child molester thinks is at the core of getting the perpetrator to make incriminating statements about his offenses.  This training will educate the attendee on the importance of understanding the techniques utilized by perpetrators to find and seduce victims, the criminal thinking distortions utilized to justify their behaviors, and the typology of the various perpetrator types. 

This presentation guides attendees through the “process” of child molestation from the perspective of the perpetrator.  Pre-Act, Act and Post-Act behaviors will be discussed, including perpetrators’ use of grooming and boundary violation.  A true multidisciplinary training and a must for all new professionals needing to gain understanding into the psyche of child molesters.

1.5-hour to 3-hour training

Our Trainings

Interrogation of Child Sex Offenders

The core principals of perpetrator interrogation will also be discussed.  From typology to criminal thinking distortions, the more we understand about how the “Perp” thinks, the easier it is to get him to talk to us.  The more he talks, the more likely it is he will make incriminating statements.  A multi-step guide to interrogation will be discussed, and videotape interrogation will be reviewed and analyzed.

3-hour or day long training

Our Trainings

MDT Investigations of Juveniles Who Commit Sex Offenses

Contrary to the popularly held view in the media that sex offenders are strangers – or the more commonly held belief that the threat of sexual molestation to our children is from an adult who is either in the home or known to the child – professionals are now acutely aware that one-third of all sexual abuse of children comes from older youth. 

This presentation seeks to illuminate the etiology, prevalence, and other significant factors in the overall investigation of juvenile sex offenders.  Using information obtained from prosecution, research, sex offender treatments and the investigative domain; a model for multidisciplinary team investigation of these juvenile sex offenders will be presented.

1.5-hour training

Our Trainings

Bridging the Gap Between Forensic Interview and Law Enforcement Investigation

As children’s advocacy centers and MDTs move into the third decade of the multidisciplinary team protection of children, they are being bombarded with new challenges to their interdisciplinary response. Movement away from lone investigators and joint investigations (law enforcement and CPS) have given way to the best practice of children’s advocacy centers and MDT investigative protocols. These practices are continually impacted by research, agency policy, state law, the direction of local prosecutors, and are further impacted by the depth of knowledge of the MDT professionals, community resources, and the victim population being served. Thus, a cookie-cutter response is not feasible from one community to another.

Key to the successful functioning of an MDT is the relationship between the forensic interviewer and the investigators (LE and/or CPS). Beyond the initial notification and response, the detailed information gathered by the forensic interviewer and subsequently corroborated by the investigator is at the core of any criminal and civil prosecution of abused children.

This presentation will illuminate the issues facing forensic interviewers and local law enforcement as they intervene on behalf of children, and provide practical solutions to address these issues.

1.5-hour training

Our Trainings

Combatting Defense Strategies in CSA and CA Cases

The anticipation of defense attorney attacks on criminal investigations strikes fear in most investigators. The typical areas of defense attack: the thoroughness of the investigator’s investigation, their professional reputation, the details of the victim’s disclosure, as well as common forensic interview errors, will all be discussed from the perspective of a defense attorney representing the alleged perpetrator in court.

The information in this training is taken from Detective Johnson’s personal professional experience as well as defense attorney trainings attended and interviews with defense attorneys, prosecutors, judges and juries. A must for all Law Enforcement, Child Protective Services and Forensic Interviewers.

3-hour course when taught with a prosecutor
1-hour mini-course when presented as “10 Biggest Mistakes”

Our Trainings

MDT Response, Coordination and Collaboration

Many communities realize the value of a coordinated response to child maltreatment.  Understanding that the protection of physically and sexually abused or neglected children is inextricably bound to the ability of a multidisciplinary team (Law Enforcement, Child Protective Services, Prosecution, Mental Health, Health Care, and Advocates) to work collaboratively toward a common goal - the protection of children via the criminal justice or civil/family court process - communities either have a multidisciplinary team and/or a children’s advocacy center in place or are in the formative stages of creating them. 

There are real challenges faced by CACs and the multidisciplinary teams that utilize them.  This keynote seeks to identify inherent obstacles to this process and educate attendees on MDT Best Practice principles to attain a more functional MDT intervention. This interactive, demonstrative presentation will expose the most common problems, challenges and mistakes made by MDTs and CACs in a frank, yet humorous, way. 

Coordination, intervention, and the importance of collaboration will be stressed.  The presentation will include a discussion of critical areas of interdisciplinary cooperation, such as multidisciplinary team response to outcry. 

1.5-hour training

Our Trainings

Multidisciplinary Team Investigation of Child Abuse, Neglect, AHT and Death

Law Enforcement and Child Protective Services are legislatively mandated to intervene on behalf of children who have been abused.  Prosecution has the responsibility to present this information in criminal and civil courtrooms.  Mental Health and Health Care professionals have key roles in the overall mental and physical prognosis.  First Responders, such as paramedics, patrol officers and emergency room personnel, are often crucial witnesses to important information. 

When taken as a whole, a comprehensive and coordinated multidisciplinary response gives investigators the best chance of determining if the injury or death of a child was intentional or accidental.  This presentation will provide attendees with investigative “Best Practices” for the investigation of severe injury and/or death of children and infants.

Severe injury investigations of children and infants tend to follow recognizable patterns.  When intervenors are knowledgeable about these patterns, they are in a better position to evaluate information and its sources during an investigation.

Years of major case analysis of child injury have shown that. . .

• slow/uncoordinated MDT response
• failure of First Responders to secure incident scene and witnesses to make notification
• failure of Investigative MDT Responders to recognize suspicious would patterns/circumstances
• poor or no forensic medical evaluations

. . . have contributed to the failure of MDTs to protect children from continued abuse. 

This MDT training will address all these issues.

3-hour to day long training

Our Trainings

Research of CAC and MDT Practice: Implications From Outcry to Prosecution

This workshop reviews findings about how CACs and MDTs can enhance offender accountability and increase guilty pleas, bolstering children’s credibility and often sparing them having to testify at trial. 

Since the founding of the first Children’s Advocacy Center in 1986 by then prosecutor Bud Cramer, CACs have had the dual purposes of promoting children’s recovery from child abuse and seeking justice in these cases.  Still, however, few child abuse cases are prosecuted, and prosecutions that occur burden children by relying too much on their court testimony.

In this workshop, an investigator and a professor join forces to share decades of findings about how CACs can help promote offender accountability through such methods as rapid response, coordination between investigators and service providers, developing investigative leads from the child forensic interview, exploring the link between in-person and online offending, and a team approach to corroborating and supporting the child. The most important effect is increasing offender confession and guilty plea, which supports the child’s credibility and avoids a trial.

The workshop ends with specific recommendations for CACs and MDTs to enhance both offender accountability and support for the child and family.  

1.5-hour to 3-hour training