NICHD for justice and care
Child interviews that stand up in court
For public prosecutors, police, judiciary and care institutions that hear children and vulnerable witnesses. A protocol that brings together careful interviewing, legal robustness and the protection of the child in one workable structure.
Experience in sectors where careful listening counts
Public Prosecution Service · Police · Judiciary · Child Protection · Youth Care · Mental Health Services for youth
Recognize your situation
Four scenarios where NICHD makes the difference
Police interview of a minor witness
A sexual offense or violent incident where a child is witness or victim. The statement has to be accurate, legally usable and the child should not be harmed by the process.
Prosecution file in a sensitive case
A case in which the child statement is the core evidence. The prosecutor needs assurance that the interview was not suggestive and that the procedure will hold up at trial.
Child protection referral
A suspicion of abuse or neglect where the child must be heard. Safely, structured, with respect for the pace of the child.
Family or youth court advisory
A judge who wants visibility on the perspective of the child in custody or protection matters, without the interview becoming a separate trial in itself.
The method
Four phases that give the child space and protect the evidence
The NICHD protocol is an evidence-based interview structure, developed by the American National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and applied internationally in forensic work with children.
Build rapport
The child gets to know the interviewer and practices open answers on neutral topics. No pressure, no steering.
Transition to the substantive topic
A careful transition to the topic at hand, without suggesting its content.
Free narrative
The child tells the story in their own words and order. The interviewer listens, echoes and encourages without prompting.
Focused questions
Only after the free narrative do specific questions come in. Open where possible, closed only where needed and always carefully worded.
The protocol is applied internationally and described in forensic-psychological literature as an evidence-based method for interviewing children. For specific evidentiary value figures please consult the academic literature via our advisers.
Attention is our craft
In service of truth-finding, never in place of the prosecutor or judge
In an interview with a child two interests cross. The legal interest asks for a statement that stands up at trial, free of contamination by suggestive questions or steered answers. The interest of the child asks for safety, space and respect for the child pace. When one wins over the other, both lose.
The NICHD protocol was written from the insight that these two interests are not opposed. By granting the child rapport and free narrative first, a statement emerges that is in fact stronger in legal terms, because it originates from the child. We bring this protocol into your organization without taking on the role of prosecutor, defense or judge. Our place is that of the careful interviewer, the adviser who helps shape the procedure, or the trainer who teaches your people to apply the protocol in their own practice.
We work quietly. We do not turn the child into a file or your case into a showcase. What we do disappears into the quality of your own work.
Why 1for2
What makes our work different
Pascal work in the judiciary
Pascal Comvalius works as a mediator in criminal and restorative justice cases. That courtroom experience is the bridge from NICHD protocol to actual legal usability.
Kirsten profiling expertise
Kirsten Heukels combines NICHD with deep behavioral analysis and years of experience in profiling, crisis and hostage negotiation. What you hear depends on how you listen.
Academically anchored
We work evidence-based. Every method we deploy has an academic foundation and we test it against counter-research before we let it land in your organization.
Multilingual where needed
Do you work with children or witnesses who do not speak Dutch fluently? We have access to interpreter and transcription infrastructure that supports the protocol in multiple languages, with forensic integrity preserved.
In numbers
Facts this work rests on
year in which 1for2 started its first interviewing and profiling practice
age from which NICHD becomes applicable, adapted to the child
countries in which the NICHD protocol is used in forensic practice
disciplines, profiling and mediation, that come together in this work
Figures refer to the protocol and the practice of 1for2. Specific reliability percentages are not listed on this page, as they vary by research population and should be consulted in the academic sources directly.
What clients say
A field where discretion is the norm
Clients in justice and care contexts choose for quiet collaboration. Specific quotes and client references are only included on this page after explicit written consent. If you want references from our network, we share them directly in a discovery conversation.
NICHD certification for 1for2: scheduled September 2026 for Pascal Comvalius and Kirsten Heukels. Until then we work with our existing profiling and kinesic-interviewing expertise alongside the NICHD methodological principles; from autumn 2026 as a NICHD-accredited team.