Developing a structured interview tool for children embroiled in family litigation and forensic mental health services: The Query Grid

Child-centered mental health and forensic professionals have long recognized the dilernma implicit in the need to elicit valid reports from court-involved children. The fact that young children are highly suggestible and that even skilled, well-intended interviewers can corrupt the data in myriad subtle ways risks compromising the legal process and (re-) traumatizing the child interviewee. The present article introduces the Query Grid (QG), a child-centered, multimodal and minimally leading interview tool suitable for use with clinical populations and court-involved children ages four through twelve years. The QG joins the sparse arsenal of existing forensic child interview tools and protocols (e.g., Poole & Lamb, 1999) useful in better meeting the needs of the court system and those children involved in abuse and neglect proceedings, criminal investigations, and custody matters.