6:1 Interviewing Children

Specific skills and knowledge are required to interview children since children’s perception of the environment, memory and sense of time is considerably different from an adult’s. It is therefore important that anyone conducting an interview with a child is fully aware of these differences.

Target group: Case officers who handle cases with children in the asylum process, unaccompanied minors as well as children in families.
Entry level: Two years of experience in the asylum process.
Available languages: English.

Content

This module offers knowledge and skills at an advanced level in common interview techniques for interviewing children. Specific knowledge and skills on how to talk with and interview children is also provided.

Objectives

At the end of the training participants will have gained knowledge in:

• The development stages of children.
• The cross cultural and cultural specific aspects of children’s development.
• The emotional state of children applying for asylum in relation to their age.
• How children store information in their memory and how they communicate this information.
• Different theories on interviewing children.
• The differences between interviewing adults and children.
• The effect of their own attitude towards the child and the interview process.

At the end of the training, participants will be able to:

• Manage interviews in the “best interest” of the child from the judicial perspective (to convert theory into practice/implementation).
• Approach children at different ages and in various emotional states.
• Use specific interviewing techniques for children.
• Recognise children with trauma.
• Deal with trauma in an interview.
• Deal with translations and interpreters.

Methods

Self-studies online comprising case studies, exercises, self-assessment tests and written assignments, combined with a face-to-face session which goes further into the topics in discussions and group exercises.

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