You can use the filters on the to browse the full scope of training Zero Abuse Project is able to offer for your organization. Please note that the On Demand filter can be used to quickly identify our trainings that have been pre-recorded and are available to watch. Most other trainings are available for organizations to book on a fee-for-service basis.
Through our Trauma-informed Prosecutor Project, we are able to offer a select menu of trainings for Prosecutors and other MDT members at no cost. Please select the Trauma-informed Prosecutor Project filter to view these trainings.
If you are an individual seeking training, please visit our Events & Training Calendar to view and register for upcoming trainings hosted by Zero Abuse Project. Unfortunately, Zero Abuse Project cannot book an individual’s request for training.
This workshop will review tactical and substantive considerations while conducting cross-examinations of digital forensics defense experts in child exploitation cases. Instruction will include preparation strategies, review of the defense expert’s curriculum vitae, potential lines of questioning, evaluating digital forensics reports, and a live cross-examination demonstration.
Moving cases from the investigation stage to prosecution is particularly difficult in the context of human trafficking, and successful human trafficking investigations require a unique approach. This workshop addresses potential avenues of corroboration, technology-facilitated human trafficking, proactive strategies, and investigative resources.
This workshop will explore common challenges to social media and digital evidence, with an emphasis on comprehending and countering authentication and hearsay challenges. Instruction will focus on relevant case law and rules of evidence, including various jurisdictional approaches and prosecutorial strategies.
This training will discuss strategies for organizing forensic interviews with young children, specifically looking at what to do when multiple forms of maltreatment or multiple incidents are disclosed within the same interview. It will also cover linguistic strategies for interviewing young children.
There is an increased public awareness around the prevalence, impact, and salience of sex trafficking, human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation. When allegations of trafficking and exploitation are made known to law enforcement and social services, the forensic interview process can be an effective tool for gathering victim statements and assessing what has occurred. This training will discuss the specifics
Protecting children from child abuse and maltreatment requires that everyone understand how to recognize, respond and report any form of maltreatment a child may experience. FIRST response is often the single most important step in effectively responding and reporting maltreatment. FIRST will give you and your community the tools necessary to better protect kids. The training combines both lecture and
This workshop provides concrete guidance in conducting pandemic-era forensic interviews in a manner that will help the prosecutor to defend the practice should the interview be challenged in court. Prosecutors are also provided a number of strategies in responding to potential defense attacks on a tele-forensic interview or an interview conducted with modifications resulting from the pandemic.
The field of forensic interviewing is forever changing and to conduct best practice in the field, research must be considered. The most recent research will be discussed, and the lecture will provide concrete suggestions for the field. Topics to be covered include faux invitation research, pairing questions, and narrative practice.
This presentation will discuss the emerging issues in the field of forensic interviewing including, follow-up interviews, child abuse and the pandemic, professional development, manipulation and grooming, diagrams, discuss new research, best practice and provide opportunity for open forum of questions from forensic interviewers and investigators.
This day-long training contains considerations for how multidisciplinary teams can evaluate when and how evidentiary material could or should be introduced into a forensic interview. Topics covered include historical perspectives, types of evidence, a framework for team discussion and practical guidance on the use of external evidence in the forensic interview.
The training provides both lecture and group discussion. Participants will learn how to overcome difficult situations during forensic interviews and handle those tough questions. Upon entering the workshop, participants will have a chance to write down difficult situations they have encountered, and the presenter and participants will work to find solutions and practical tools that can be used in the
The Adverse Childhood Experiences study (ACES) indicates to us that 66% of children experiencing one adverse childhood experience will be experiencing at least one other. Recognizing the prevalence of polyvictimization, this training will better prepare forensic interviewers to appropriately respond to disclosures of multiple forms of maltreatment in the forensic interview and screen for forms of maltreatment not previously disclosed.
The Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACES) indicates that 66% of children experiencing one adverse childhood experience are experiencing at least one other. Recognizing the prevalence of polyvictimization, this training will better prepare forensic interviewers to appropriately respond to disclosures of multiple forms of maltreatment in the forensic interview and screen for forms of maltreatment not previously disclosed.
Professionals charged with interviewing children for alleged abuse are likely to encounter children with developmental disabilities or other special needs. In this presentation, rates of victimization of children with special needs are provided, factors that increase risk of abuse for children with disabilities are discussed, children’s abilities to recount information are described, and strategies for the interview process are covered.
In conducting peer review of forensic interviewers, it is important not only to critique the question types and adherence to a protocol, but also to critique whether, or not, the interviewer asked questions that would elicit information that can be corroborated by the multi-disciplinary team. This workshop provides concrete information to expand the peer review process to include this critical
This workshop discusses the unique challenges facing forensic interviewers and investigators when working with adolescent or teenage victims of child maltreatment and offers concrete suggestions for working with this population including a primer on understanding the world of today’s teens.
Testifying in court is a process that can cause anxiety, even for the most seasoned professional. Understanding how to discuss the forensic interview protocol, our multidisciplinary team processes and the research that supports them is a critical skill. This training will discuss commonly broached topics in the court process, how to practically prepare for court, how to defend practice in
This workshop summarizes the history of developing MDTs in the United States and then, armed with that history, discusses the ten greatest challenges facing MDTs today and offers concrete suggestions for MDTs in meeting these challenges
Considering culture and individualizing the forensic interview to meet the needs of the child in front of the MDT are best practices and deeply impact the process of disclosure and case outcomes. This training will provide language and terminology surrounding cultural dynamics the team may encounter, recommendations for culturally appropriate considerations during the forensic interview and an overview of how
So often, forensic laboratories are fundamentally disconnected from investigators and prosecutors without little understanding of what happens as an item of evidence is submitted to a lab and is eventually transformed into a result in a laboratory report. This session will specifically examine both the layout and basic wokflow of a forensic biology laboratory as evidence ultimately progresses from submission
Based on the nationally-recognized ChildFirst® Forensic Interview Protocol, this training provides a purposeful and legally defensible process for conducting expanded forensic interviews with children who may not succeed in a standard, single interview due to trauma, developmental, special needs or other complicating issues, including polyvictimization. This training will teach the expanded interview process as well as research supporting multiple, non-duplicative
It is incumbent on teams and interviewers to prepare our forensic interview process to meet the needs of the child sitting before us in the interview room. This training will discuss issues of accessibility in the forensic interview process with regard to language facilitation and the use of interpreters in the forensic interview.
This lecture will provide students an understanding of the principles of language when interviewing children. Students will learn concrete solutions for interviewing young children.
This training aims to increase the understanding of potential multidisciplinary team considerations when assessing children’s statements for investigative and court purposes. Topics covered include corroborating or refuting children’s statements through medical evidence, behavioral and psychological indicators, evaluating disclosure patterns, perpetrator behavior and increasing the reliability and validity of children’s statements through advanced forensic interviewing techniques.
Initial child abuse disclosures and children’s statements ascertained through the forensic interview are only one part of an entire investigation. Increasing the corroboratively relevant details in the interview will assist in other parts of the child abuse investigation. This training stresses the importance of corroboration and offers forensic interview techniques to increase forensically relevant corroborative details in the interview through
Zero Abuse Project is a 501(c)(3) organization committed to the elimination of child sexual abuse. Our programs are designed to provide training and education to professionals and students, and to help transform institutions to effectively prevent, recognize, and respond to child sexual abuse.
