The author has been a sexual assault therapist and a director of a children's advocacy center since 1985. the information and guidelines are based on current research and practice. The introduction emphasizes the need to balance forensic and therapeutic issues, to have a solid knowledge base on issues related to child sexual abuse and investigation, and to be sensitive to the child's needs and the unique aspects of child sexual abuse. Individual chapters explain memory and suggestibility, strategies for decreasing the difference between the interviewer and the child, language and questioning, fictitious versus valid reports, and the characteristics of an effective interviewer. Additional chapters discuss the interviewing room, interviewing aids, audiovisual recording of interviews, the first phases of an interview, information gathering, child protection, child abuse prevention, and closure. Further chapters discuss issues related to the extended forensic assessment, techniques for interviewing resistant children, assessment of the nonoffending parents, and the formation of conclusions. Sample interviews; checklists; forms; chapter reference lists; and appended forms, checklists, and pamphlet for parents who believe that their child has been abused