How the NICHD Protocol Gives Children Space for Their Own Recollections

Paris – 22 July 2026: In a quiet room, an interview does not begin with a question about suspicion, but with an invitation to tell. A report published on Wednesday by franceinfo places the NICHD protocol, which French investigative services use in interviews with children, at the center. It is a crucial task: listening to minors without imposing adult expectations on their words.

NICHD stands for the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The protocol sets out a fixed sequence for interviews. First, the rules are explained: a child may say that they do not know something, do not remember it, or do not understand a question. They must also be able to correct the adult. Only then does the interview move on to the reason for the investigation.

Open-ended questions occupy a central place. Rather than anticipating details, specially trained officers must ask the child to describe, from their own memory, what may have happened. Closed or suggestive questions should be avoided as far as possible. The French Gendarmerie describes the goal as a dual protection: reducing the influence of questions and adapting the conduct of the conversation to the child’s age and abilities.

This is more than a matter of an appropriate tone. Young people’s statements can be of great importance in criminal proceedings and are, at the same time, particularly vulnerable. The method therefore seeks to prevent an interview from becoming an interrogation. Trust is built through neutral conversations and by asking the child first to recount an everyday experience in detail. In this way, children learn that they do not have to guess what answer is expected of them.

French procedural law also provides protective measures. Under Article 706-52 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, interviews with minor victims in certain serious offenses are generally audiovisually recorded during the investigation. The recording is intended to avoid repeated interviews as far as possible and enables the justice system to later reconstruct the course of the conversation. It is confidential and may not be disclosed.

However, the NICHD protocol does not determine guilt or replace other investigations. Its task is more limited, but fundamental: to obtain a statement with the greatest possible care. Scientific research on structured interviews has concluded for years that open invitations can lead to statements that are more detailed and more based on the person’s own memory than questions that already suggest answers.

The current attention to this practice is a reminder that child protection also begins with language. For investigators, this means discipline: patience instead of pressure, asking follow-up questions instead of interpreting. For children, it can mean that their words are not hastily translated into the language of adults. Precisely where a statement may mark the beginning of proceedings, it is a matter of respect and the rigor characteristic of the rule of law.