Roster
Roster Criteria
One of the original goals of the BC Hear the Child Society was to establish a roster of qualified child interviewers who conduct non-evaluative child interviews and prepare views of the child reports in family justice proceedings for consideration when a child’s best interests are determined. Over the past few months we have sought and received feedback on what criteria qualified interviewers should meet to be eligible for such a Roster. We thank those who participated and are pleased to share with you the BC Hear the Child Society Child Interviewer Roster criteria.
Launch Roster
One of the messages we heard loud and clear from recent feedback is the desire to get a qualified child interviewer Roster launched quickly. As a result, we are beginning the Roster with a core group of qualified Launch Roster members located in Kamloops, Kelowna, the Lower Mainland, Penticton and Victoria who meet the criteria for doing non-evaluative child interviews.
Joining the Roster
People interested in joining the Roster as a qualified non-evaluative child interviewer will be invited to apply in the coming months, after the Launch Roster is up and running. If eligible you will be added to the Roster on a rolling basis. An application will be posted on our website sometime in June 2012 so check back for further updates.
We invite you to work with us in building opportunities to hear from children when their best interests are determined in family justice processes by sharing the Roster with those involved in family justice processes.
(a) The minimum requirements should include:
(1) criminal records check
(2) Minimum Academic Credentials like Bachelors Degree in Law, Psychology, and Social Work.
(3) Training and experience in Collaborative Law Practice and/or Mediation Training;
(4) Training and experience with (a) impact of divorce and separation to children, (b) understanding of degrees/stages of divorce; (c) parenting after sepration course; (d) high conflict divorce, (e) (d) working knowledge of family law; (e) child interview techniques; (f) course in children’s participation in judical process; and (g) knowledge and understanding of evidence law.
B. How can we best assure quality of interviewers given our minimal resources? We can do this by creating a form of standard retainer agreement, standard interview consent form or intake form, standard or minimum questions to be asked, and negotiated/reduced liability insurance rate for members.
C. Any other comments/suggestions you have for establishing a roster? My suggestion is that we ensure that every region has access to “hear the child report” interviewer but not saturate the area and only allow limited interviewers so as not to downgrade the standard or allow the proliferation of unregulated people prodiving hear the child reports which will eventually result in the judiciary refusing to hear them in the future and go back to the old s.15 report. Once the judiciary is open to the idea of hear the child reports then we can start to accept more roster members and perhaps we are able to then also include more criteria after hearing comments from the judiciary. These are my two cents and hope it helps.
Thanks Butch! We appreciate your suggestions.
As a Clinical Cousnellor, I think that Child Interviewers should have knowledge and experience working with children/youth in this capacity. Awareness about developmental stages would definitely be an asset. It would be good if interviewers had taken some kind of parenting skills training as well, because many of the reports that children will be making will likely involve the child’s perspectives and opinions about how their parents have been parenting them. It will be important for the Interviewer to know about typical “age-appropriate” questioning and sensitivity to cognitive and emotional development.
I feel, in order to be a really effective Child Interviewer, the individual must be a highly skilled and caring listener and have the child’s best interests at the forefront. The Interviewer must remember that this is an emotionally charged and challenging time for everyone involved and so being an effective and experienced listener who is regulated and follows ethical guidelines is of the utmost importance. The interviewer should have the skills and training to know when children have had enough. Emotional safety and professionalism is really important in these situations.
Thanks Andrea. Really appreciate the perspective of a mental health professional!