Formalising the European Barnahus Movement through establishing training in Europe and a formal network.

This project aims to ensure a systematic, accelerated, and sustainable effort to train staff and facilitate professional exchange and development across Europe, taking into account the combined need for training in forensic interviews and therapy an in multidisciplinary collaboration and case management, on the matter of children’s right to protection, procedural safeguards, adapting to the individual child and providing support, including therapeutic interventions.

Activities related to this project include:

• Establishment of a European Competence Centre providing University-level/accredited training alongside national practice training to enable staff to practice in line with law, guidance and the Barnahus Quality standards;
• European professional network with the aim of supporting continuous exchange and professional development;
• Rolling-out a case management tool to facilitate MDIA case management and capture comparable European data,
• Development and pilot of a methodology to ensure a safe and meaningful pathway for children to influence practice in the area of forensic interviews and therapy in a multidisciplinary and interagency (MDIA) context.   

The expected and overall result is a mutual trust, as well as a harmonized and continuous professional development in Europe for staff involved in criminal investigation, judicial process, child protection and interventions to support recovery of child victims and witnesses of violence. This generates sustainable impact for child victims and witnesses of violence through improved access to specialised professionals who practice according to international, EU, CoE law and guidance and the Barnahus quality standards and are supported by evidence-based tools for their interventions and case management and a safe and meaningful path to influence their own case management.

Funding reference:

The project is funded by the Rights, Equality & Citizenship Programme of the European Commission (Ref. REC-AG-2019 / REC-RDAP-GBV-AG-2019/881625).