The Children’s Justice Act Program at the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) will begin offering the Finding Words Virginia training program in 2006.

Finding Words Virginia is an intensive five-day course in which students learn the necessary skills to conduct a competent, investigative interview of a suspected child abuse victim using the CornerHouse forensic interview process. This course is based on the national program, Finding Words, that was developed by the American Prosecutors Research Institute (APRI) in conjunction with CornerHouse, a nonprofit interagency child abuse evaluation and training center located in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Finding Words is a unique course because it was designed by and for the frontline child abuse professional. The course is offered to multidisciplinary teams that typically consist of prosecutors, law enforcement officers, child protection workers and forensic interviewers.

Finding Words Virginia is an intense learning 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 related to child sexual abuse.

Each student must conduct an interview with an adult actor who portrays a child victim of suspected abuse. Following the interview, students are critiqued by faculty and their peers. A comprehensive essay examination is given at the end of the week to measure the student’s knowledge of material gained throughout the course. Students must pass the exam to receive a certificate of completion.

Training Location, Size, and Dates

The 2007 Finding Words Virginia training sessions will be held in the Richmond Salon in the Student Union of Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. No more than forty students will be admitted to a training session.

The 2007 Finding Words Virginia training dates are:

• April 2-6, 2007
• June 18-22, 2007
• September 24-28, 2007

See below for electronic application form and brochure.

Faculty

Tuition

The tuition fee to attend this training is $200 per person. Please do not submit payment with your application. Payment will be due upon notification of acceptance into the course.

Application & Brochure

• NEW! :: 2007 Application (.doc, 3 pages)
  
  
• 2007 Brochure (.pdf, 4 pages)

Students must submit an application to be considered for admission to the course. Priority will be given to applicants requesting admission as part of a multidisciplinary team, but individual applications will be considered.

Forms

• Training Tape Release - Child Advocacy Center (.doc, 1 page)
• Training Tape Release - Law Enforcement (.doc, 1 page)
• Training Tape Release - Department of Social Services (.doc, 1 page)
• 2007 Application (.doc, 3 pages)

Return to the Children's Justice Act page.