Model Protocol for Multidisciplinary Teams - Office of the Attorney ...

victimization. Child advocates, social services and mental health professionals,prosecutors, law enforcement and others have long decried the difficulties the systempresents to child victims and their families. The use of multidisciplinary investigative andcase review teams is the first model which has provided a meaningful way tosignificantly diminish the harmful effects which the system's intervention can have on achild. The use of multidisciplinary approaches can improve the process in the fourprimary areas of weakness: 1) in the way the system creates further trauma for thechild; 2) in the effectiveness of the process; 3) in the stress which the system historicallyhas on professionals; and 4) in increasing the system's accountability to victims,survivors, and to its individual members.Research on the impact of the investigative and prosecutorial process on children, aswell as the experience of professionals involved in these cases, has documented theadverse effects of the traditional legal system (e.g.: Goodman et al., 1992; Runyon etal., 1988). The necessity of being interviewed numerous times by differentprofessionals has been identified as a particularly stress inducing factor for children.Specifically, children experiencing multiple interviews and interviewers rate theirexperience as more negative and traumatic (e.g.: Goodman et al., 1992; Tedesco &Schnell, 1987). The prolonged nature of the criminal justice process has also beenidentified as impeding a child's ability to recover from sexual abuse (e.g.: Runyon et al.,1988).In addition to inflicting undue harm on a child, recent research suggests that traditionalinvestigative and prosecutorial procedures, which do not attend to the uniquecharacteristics of child victims and witnesses, are likely to be less successful. Factorsof the investigative process associated with less reliable statements from a child mayinclude prolonged investigations which impede memory retrieval (Brainerd et al., 1990);and multiple interviews, particularly those conducted in an aggressive or adversarialmanner (Ceci, Leitchman & White, 1995).Work in the area of child sexual abuse can be difficult for professionals whose primaryconcern is the protection of the child and seeking justice for the harm inflicted by thismost insidious type of criminal offense. Professionals, whether law enforcement,prosecutors, social services or mental health professionals, victim advocates or others,have historically worked in isolation with only the resources which their respectiveagencies have available. Team approaches provide support and colleagueship forprofessionals, institute automatic consultation when tough decisions are necessary,reduce any duplication of efforts, and increase available resources. The exercise ofteam building is one that maximizes the effectiveness of each individual member.Kentucky's Response to Child Sexual AbuseIn the spring of 1992, a Kentucky Attorney General Task Force on Child Sexual Abuse(Task Force) was convened to address the crime of child sexual abuse. Because the4