Support for Child Witnesses

• Author: Loree Armstrong Beniuk, Jo-Anne Hughes, and Jack Reynolds
• Pages: 107-117

107

Support for Child Witnesses

I have spent the majority of my  years as a police ocer working with children,

as a Young Oender Ocer, a School Safety Ocer and as a Sexual Assault/Child

Abuse Detective. As a result of these experiences, I have had the privilege of teach-

ing children in a pro-active and positive setting, interviewed countless child victims

and have dealt with kids who become part of the legal system as well.

A number of years ago, prior to the existence of a Centre, I was involved in a case

with a  year old female victim of a sexual assault. I did my best to prepare her for

court but right before she was scheduled to testify, she broke down and was unable

to go on. e Crown withdrew the matter and a short time later the child changed

her mind and wanted to testify. It was VERY dicult explaining to her that the case

had been withdrawn and that she could no longer testify even though she wanted

to. I am certain that this scenario has played out in many court rooms in the past.

e establishment of an increasing number of child witness programs across the

province very much reduces the risk of it happening in future.

—Comments from a Guelph Police Ocer, who subsequently joined the

Board of Directors of the Waterloo Region Child Witness Centre

Children who are required to testify in court, either as a victim of or a

witness to a crime, have special needs that are dif‌ferent from those of

adults. The support services described in this chapter and the following

three chapters are available to children in both circumstances.

Children are oen involuntary participants in a system that is adver-

sarial, alien, and frightening to them. They are frequently stressed about

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