Child Sexual Abuse Interview : Anatomical Drawings

by Child Welfare Information Gateway

(Page 5 of 8)

Anatomical drawings are pictures of adults and children, males and females, at different developmental stages - elder, adult, adolescent, latency age, and preschooler, without clothing and with primary and secondary sex characteristics. These drawings may have the frontal position presented on one side of the page and the dorsal on the other. They are used like skin maps; therefore, relevant pictures are used for each child interviewed.

In many respects, the use of anatomical drawings parallels the use of anatomically explicit dolls. Anatomical drawings are useful with the same age range of children as the dolls; they are particularly useful with very young children but also appropriate with older children. Appropriate pictures are chosen by either the child or the interviewer. The child can be asked to mark on the drawing or point to the part on the drawing that was involved.

The disadvantage of pictures is that it is more difficult for the child to enact any sexual behavior with pictures. However, children may make clothing for the pictures in order to demonstrate how clothing was removed, put one drawing on another to show "humping" (intercourse), and draw arrows and lines between genitalia in order to indicate intercourse.

On the other hand, anatomical drawings have the considerable advantage of being a permanent, visual record. They become part of the interviewer's case record and, as such, are admissible in court. In addition, the drawings have not been challenged as the anatomical dolls have.

Because of the potential use of drawings as evidence, it is advisable for professionals to put as much information as possible on the drawings. Professionals should have the child write the name of the person whom the particular drawing represents, if the child can do so. If the child cannot write, the interviewer should write the name. The interviewer should encourage a child to write or draw on the pictures to illustrate aspects of the abuse. For example, if the child indicates the offender used a finger to hurt her vagina, the interviewer should have her circle or mark the appropriate finger(s), and then the child or the interviewer should write beside the finger that it is the one that went in her vagina. Professionals should write on the picture the questions asked and the child's responses. For example, in a situation involving sexual abuse in day care, a 4-year-old girl marked the penis, the head, and the feet on the anatomical drawing representing her little brother. These were the places "the teachers did bad things." Beside each of the child's marks was written "a place the teachers did bad things." The questions and the child B's whispered responses were written beside the penis on the picture representing B's brother:

Int.: "Who did something to his penis?"
B.: "Miss Rose."
Int.: "What did she do?"
B.: "Bit it."
Int.: "How do you know?"
B.: "I saw her."

Use of Picture Drawing

Although a few clinicians have made observations about the characteristics of drawings of sexually abused children, there has been no systematic exploration of their content. Nevertheless, many types of pictures can be helpful. Drawing is most useful as a diagnostic technique with latency-aged children. However, children as young as age 4, and in some cases 3, can produce useful drawings as long as the various items in the picture are labeled and explanations are written on the picture. Some adolescents will prefer to draw a picture of what has occurred rather than to describe it verbally.

Drawing can have uses other than gathering information about possible sexual abuse. For instance, drawing can be employed to reduce tension, to understand issues other than sexual abuse, and to assess the child's overall functioning.

The interviewer may employ pictures either indirectly or directly to gather information that may be related to the child's victimization. Asking the child to draw any of the following pictures may indirectly result in findings:

• "Draw me a picture of anything."
• "Draw me a picture of yourself."
• "Draw me a picture of a person."
• "Draw me a picture of your family."
• "Draw me a picture of your family doing something."
• "Draw me a picture of (possible perpetrator)."

Sometimes sexual content (e.g., genitalia or sexual acts) is noted in the pictures. If this is the case, questions should be asked about this content. The child's responses may provide information about sexual abuse. For example, a 5-year-old child, when asked to draw "anything," drew a picture of "Daddy" with a large "peanuts" (penis). When asked what the "peanut" was and if she had ever seen one, she eventually described her father taking her into his bed and fondling her as he fondled himself.

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