Understanding the relationship between child maltreatment and language competence: an evidential interviewing perspective

Prosecution and conviction rates for child abuse are low in Australia, like most of the developed world. Improving these rates requires improvement in the quality of child witness statements which form the main evidence in child abuse cases. We aim to achieve this goal by providing a comprehensive and controlled examination of the oral language profiles of maltreated children and the way these profiles impact children's performance in an investigative interview paradigm. Further, we aim to enhance the wellbeing of maltreated children by developing a screening tool to assist forensic practitioners in identifying children who need specialised language intervention.