Missouri KidsFirst is the certified course provider in Missouri for ChildFirst®. The ChildFirst® Forensic Interviewing course is designed for investigative teams of law enforcement officers, social workers, prosecutors, and forensic interviewers. Students receive training on the ChildFirst® Forensic Interview Protocol, child development, memory and suggestibility, testifying in court, legal issues and preparing children for court. This training is the ChildFirst® Missouri Forensic Interviewing curriculum developed by the Zero Abuse Project and includes the ChildFirst® Forensic Interviewing protocol. This course is an interactive, intensive training that combines lecture with hands on experience. From the pre-course materials on linguistics, child development, memory, suggestibility and other pertinent topics, to required-reading in the form of homework each day, students are expected to study a significant amount of literature relating to child sexual abuse.
Things to know:
Attending this course alone does not qualify you to conduct forensic interviews. It is one piece of the forensic interviewer training process which requires ongoing skills-building, mentorship, and peer review.
Prior to registering for this course, interested participants must submit an application for approval by their local Child Advocacy Center (CAC). The application period for this course is now open. For assistance connecting with your local CAC for an application, please contact Missouri KidsFirst at contact@missourikidsfirst.org