Free to download resources

How It Is

Opening Doors

Disclosure is often seen as a one-off, one-way event in which the adult is a passive recipient of a child’s words.

This article reframes ‘disclosure’ as a two-way interaction in which the response of the adult is a key determinant of children’s safety. Many professionals are also given negative, prohibitive guidance about responding to early concerns. 

We instead offer a framework of positive, practical, evidence-based guidance. This article is focussed on responses by therapists, however the skills and techniques discussed can be used across all front line professionals working with children to enable them to respond confidently to children when there may be safeguarding concerns, and we introduce the analogy of ‘opening doors’ that a child might walk through, or not.

Opening Doors is available to download for free, simply use the link below to download your PDF copy

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How young is too young?

Perceptions of children’s competence as witnesses have shifted repeatedly in the last few decades.

Recent international research confirms that very young children can provide reliable descriptions of past events when properly interviewed. In England, the legislative foundations are now in place to enable the evidence of very young children to be heard and tested: clear guidance is available for interviewing teams, prosecutors and advocates, and the judiciary. Yet practice with very young children is erratic across England, both at investigation and at trial. Many practitioners do not feel confident to interview or cross-examine very young children and in some areas children under five are not interviewed at all. Very few under fives give evidence in English courts, although this is beginning to change. This paper briefly summarises recent research and current guidance and explores the reasons for variability in practice. A range of practical strategies are suggested to enable very young children to give their best evidence. These strategies link the research base to the author’s direct involvement as a registered witness intermediary in more than 70 investigative interviews and criminal trials with children aged two to five.

How you is too young is available to download for free, simply use the link below to download your PDF copy

Download "How young is too young"

Purchasable items

Truth and Lies

For children’s evidence to be used in criminal or family proceedings, they need to demonstrate their understanding of the difference between truth and lies. This mobile app contains 20 clips for children and young people to watch and answer a simple question: ‘Did they tell the truth or a lie?’

Tried and tested in more than 200 police interviews and criminal trials, these 20 film clips (10-20 seconds) show real children telling the truth or telling lies about events proven to engage children and young people.

These films resolve a number of problems, requiring minimal language processing, not requesting the child to imagine or pretend or listen to a ‘story’, and requiring no person present to tell a lie or be accused of lying.

The app is available on both Apple and Android devices via the relevant app store for £14.99

John and the Ball

The Whole Picture

The Whole Picture is a training resource that addresses the complex issue of disability and sexuality. It has relevance for a range of professionals including support workers, nurses and managers of residential and respite centres. It will also be of interest to disabled young people and their families.



In the film disabled young people and professionals talk about their experiences and views on sexuality. They also provide practical advice about how disabled young people’s sexual needs can be acknowledged and responded to.

The Whole Picture is available for £55

All Join In

This unique video, made with a diverse group of 3-7 year olds, helps children develop skills for communicating and making friends and for understanding their own and others feelings.

All Join In looks at new experiences and new relationships through a child's eyes, aiming to encourage:

• Inclusion - children are encouraged to wonder about other children and about differences in a positive way.
• Communication - children are introduced to strategies for making sense of one another's behaviour. These strategies include sign language around feelings and getting along.
• Emotional literacy - children are shown skills for observing and understanding each others feelings.

The video is almost adult free, interactive, lively and fun.

All Join In is available for £30

Three Way Street

Three Way Street: Communicating with Children and Young People. This film gives practical strategies to make three way communication effective, looking at what helps and what does not help, and taking children’s views into account at every stage.

Three Way Street shows how to get direct communication going with a child in the presence of another adult, using their knowledge and skills when you need to.

Made with the active involvement of children and young people, the pack demonstrates a range of practical skills and strategies and a model of three way communication in which the child is central.

Three Way Street is available for £90