Adapting court preparation for the children in your communities

For fourteen years, the Zebra Child Protection Centre has provided a continuum of support to children who have suffered physical and sexual abuse in the Edmonton area through the intervention, investigation and prosecutorial... [ view full abstract ]

For fourteen years, the Zebra Child Protection Centre has provided a continuum of support to children who have suffered physical and sexual abuse in the Edmonton area through the intervention, investigation and prosecutorial processes. Our team of multi-disciplinary partners, including police, child and family services, medical, mental health, Crown prosecutors, trained assistance dogs, over 50 community volunteers, and Zebra Centre staff, strive to help children tell their story. In a safe, child-friendly environment, children and their non-offending caregivers are provided information and support. We keep the family engaged in the process with the goal to reduce systemic trauma and re-victimization. The number of court cases involving our children has risen from 112 to 290 in 10 years. Our conviction rates sit around 65%, with only about a quarter of those cases requiring child witnesses to testify (the remaining cases are resolved by Guilty Pleas).
The objective of our proposed 60 minute workshop is to share with other professionals the tools to create a child-friendly court program for their community. We would see that knowledge extend to creating and strengthening multi-disciplinary partnerships and ensure trauma-informed practices are incorporated.
We will introduce the basics of conducting an environmental scan, the introduction of our Zebra court preparation material, case contamination and varying age appropriate lessons and activities. We will discuss how these may be tailored to their regional laws, cultures, victims’ rights and courthouse amenities.
Since the implementation in 2012, we have conducted our child-focused prep over 518 times; leaving children prepared and empowered to testify. We would like to see participants leave with not only a new set of tools to prepare children to be witnesses, but increased knowledge in regards to how to best advocate for children during the criminal justice process.