Topic: Violence and abuse

The challenging dialogue. Child’s perspective on child welfare protection services. Scientific based practice and practical skills.

Langballe, Å., Gamst, K., & Jabobsen, M. (2010). Den vanskelige samtalen. Barneperspektiv på barnevernarbeid. Kunnskapsbasert praksis og handlingskompetanse, [The challenging dialogue. Child’s perspective on child welfare protection services. Scientific based practice and practical skills. ] Norwegian only.

A dialogical communication methodology for use in courtroom hearings (DCM) (Gamst & Langballe, 2004) has been developed and then tested and adapted to suit interviews with children conducted in the child welfare system. The testing can be characterised as innovative since it has resulted in changes to existing practice. It involved a child welfare office, including the management and the childcare officers, undergoing training for nearly two years. The innovation lay in implementing theory, a methodical approach and personal skills. This study is unique in relation to earlier investigations into the effect of training in techniques for interviewing children within the police and child welfare systems. No previous descriptions exist of a field study that took into consideration both the training content, the time aspect, teaching strategies and the organisational circumstances regarding the implementation of an interview methodology for children.

Objective and statements of the problem                                                                     The principal intention of the study was to obtain further knowledge of interviewing children in a child welfare setting; to implement research based methodology; and to expand child welfare officers’ skills activity competence so that the child’s perspective underlies their work to a greater degree. In order to achieve this the goal was both to test and adapt the methodology in the field and find suitable, adequate methods of raising their levels of competence related to communicating with children and child welfare agencies. The stated goals were operationalized into the following research questions: 
•  Can a dialogical communication method developed for use with children in criminal law situations be adaptable to professional child welfare practices?
•  How can this dialogical communication method be adapted to the specific requirements of interviewing children in exploratory and follow-up talk in a child welfare setting?
•  What constitutes a good, suitable training methodology for achieving a real implementation and adaptation of DCM within child welfare?
•  How does DCM affect child welfare practices in relation to conducting interviews with children?

Methods
The project involved both innovation and research. The innovative element consisted of an implementation period of one-and-a-half years during which 12 experienced child welfare officers and two heads of department from the same child welfare office received training in DCM. The 12 child welfare officers conducted between three and five interviews each with different children totalling 48 interviews in all. The average age of the children was 11.5 years. All the interviews were recorded as sound files and transcribed by special needs teachers with experience of research interviews with children as well as by a professional transcriber. Measuring the results of the training requires conducting statistical analyses of 27 interviews carried out before the training had commenced, immediately after completion of the training as well as six months thereafter. These quantitative analyses are based on a modified recording sheet developed by Gamst og Langballe (2004). Three independent experts with a good knowledge of the communication method in question undertook recording the data. Four interviews were rated by all of the experts in order to ensure reliability between the scorers; 75% concurrence was measured. These results were rated for significance using a T-test of dependent samples. 

Furthermore, the child welfare officers undertook qualitative recordings after all of the 48 interviews; they provided their subjective experiences of and refection’s about the training and the use of DCM. In addition, they were each observed by a project leader or project assistant during one of the interviews and given immediate feedback. The recordings and interview transcripts were then used as the basis of self-analyses and feedback. An evaluation of the process was conducted midway through the innovation process (written and in semi-structured interviews) followed by a final evaluation (a two-day evaluation seminar) involving written group tasks and written minutes of the discussions. This material then underwent qualitative analysis.

Results
One of the principal results is that the child welfare officers reported that the innovation had led to a clear understanding of their practices. The study also provided two other findings in the field: i) the results of the training, and ii) the methodological testing and adaptation. Together these results provide important knowledge about methodological procedures that lead to the perspectives of the child enjoying an increased position in the child welfare field. The findings can be summarised as follows:

Training
• Significant, recommended approaches in DCM are adopted after training
• The greatest changes happen within those areas of communication methodology related mostly to technical skills, such as using the specific phases in DCM.
• Skills requiring changes in attitude and behaviour or in relationship skills increase in the short term, but decrease after six months. Increased and lasting personal guidance is required in order that all aspects of DCM are integrated into the individual’s long lasting communication skills.
• The training methods for the innovation are considered to be adequate and sufficient for lasting change to happen in the organisation. The entire office now considers themselves as stakeholders in DCM.  
• The participants in the project have described an increase and extended under- standing in how they see things from a child’s point of view. Through their interviews of children the child welfare officers have become more aware of the seriousness of the child’s care situation. In addition, the child’s needs have become more visible. This, in turn, leads to a greater degree of participation on the part of the child.
•  The formal routines had previously overshadowed the child’s perspective.

Testing and adapting the methodology
• DCM yields more qualitative information from children.
• The child welfare officers have experienced at a high level the usefulness of having acquired a tool for their interviews with children when the child’s care situation needs investigating and when measures already implemented are going to be followed up.
• The dimensions of the DCM framework are used differently depending on the various kinds of interviews the child welfare officers’ conduct.
• The different dimensions within each DCM phase may be easily adapted to interviews of children in the childcare system whether these are investigative or follow-up in nature.
• Interviews of children in the childcare system form part of a totality in which the preparatory work, the finishing process / follow-up work acquire a completely different character than they would in the criminal justice system.
• There is a need to include a new phase termed the follow-up phase in DCM.
• A need exists for new organisational routines that will be able to ensure acute protection and help for children when deemed imperative and that adequate measures are put in place in the longer term.
•  A special child interview room in line with DCM is fitted out.

Implications
The child welfare system enjoys unique opportunities to gain access to children’s and young people’s subjective descriptions of reality, while at the same time they have great responsibility for protecting and taking care of children. It is significant that non-specialist, financial or personal costs are allowed to stand in the way of children having adequate possibilities of participating as active informants in child welfare cases in which they themselves are involved. This investigation indicates that it is a demanding task acquiring skills that deal with communicating with children in the child welfare setting, both at a personal and administrative level. Some children cannot, do not wish to or do not dare to speak about how they experience their own realities. In such cases they are not required to say anything, but will, nevertheless, receive support and protection. Other children feel motivated and consider it their right to have the chance to talk about themselves. Consequently it is extremely important for them to be listened to and taken seriously. Involving children in case proceedings requires routines for working together with them so that they are followed up. This will involve having access to adequate relief measures both in the short and longer term. 

In this context it is not just a matter of the childcare officers acquiring knowledge of all the circumstances that influence communication with a child during an interview. Adopting new knowledge, being able to adapt the interview methodology to each child and further adapting it to one’s own personal style requires a system that ensures the newly acquired knowledge is kept up to date and developed further. Significant factors in this regard include managerial support, collegial cooperation, guidance and a flow of new knowledge. Children depend on capable adults if they are going to open up and talk about matters that they consider sensitive for some reason or another, or that are especially challenging because they deal with relationships within their closest family. Concentrating on good training methods and a continuous capacity for the development of child welfare officers is extremely important so that they are both competent and dare to work placing the child’s perspective at its centre where the child is an active participant. 

The training, testing and adaptation of DCM have resulted in new research based knowledge that can be considered as valuable for raising the level of competence in the child welfare system.