Upon the request of the Child Protection Policy Unit (CPPU), the Continuation and Promotion Division of the Police Training School (PTS) recently organised two special 'mock court' training classes for 60 social workers and a clinical psychologist from the Social Welfare Department (SWD), who are responsible for handling child abuse cases and are likely to be summonsed to appear before a court as a witness when court proceedings are required for these cases.

Mr Ephraem Tsui Pui-wang, the Police Clinical Psychologist of CPPU who is also one of the six local trainers involved in the child abuse investigation training, told OffBeat that the training course, which was the first of its kind, aimed to enhance social workers' understanding of court proceedings and, specifically, the procedures in trials of child abuse cases and to sharpen their presentation skills in court.

Mr Tsui said: "Since 1995, a multi-disciplinary approach has been adopted in the handling of child abuse cases in which social workers of Family & Child Protective Services Unit (FCPSU) of SWD, clinical psychologists of SWD and Child Abuse Investigation Unit (CAIU) officers of the Police Force form the Child Protection Special Investigation Teams for joint investigations."

"We noticed that our SWD colleagues were in need of specific training to strengthen their competence in giving evidence in court, so we requested PTS to tailor-make a course for them."

Ms Chan Wai-yan, Social Work Officer, Staff Development and Training Section of SWD, said that the course was very practical and she particularly appreciated the effort made by PTS staff in its preparation and implementation.

"PTS staff had sat in on a few of our training classes and gone through some of our training video tapes of recorded interviews so as to become familiar with the nature of our job and working procedures in child protection special investigation,"Ms Chan noted.

Course instructors, Senior Inspectors Mr Tiger Wong Hung-fu and Mr Wong Yiu-chuen, said: "Our course started from basic court knowledge such as court manners, dressing code and court settings.

"Then we went on to illustrate some common mistakes made by witnesses and show them how to improve their presentation skills in court through a role-play in which one of the participants was invited to act as a witness and was cross-examined about an edited version of a real child abuse case."

The course was very well-received, according to one of the participants, Ms Lau Shuk-ha, Social Work Officer of SWD. "I can still remember how nervous I was whenever I was summonsed to appear before a court for child abuse cases. My hands were shaking when I was giving evidence!

"I found the training course invaluable because it showed us how to prepare for a court hearing and the appropriate ways to relate facts in court. We also got a better understanding of the importance of proper documentation and working procedures which can affect the reliability of our evidence."

Mr Tsui concluded with an observation that this kind of training will further enhance cooperation between the Police and SWD. "I was very pleased with participants' positive response to the course and I am sure we can run similar courses in future whenever they are needed."

Social workers learn how to cope in court