This study examined the quality of forensic interviews conducted by specially trained police officers in the Norwegian Barnahus between 2015 and 2017, using the sequential interview (SI) model, a Norwegian version of the extended interview model that has not previously been studied. Two hundred and seven interviews of alleged abused preschool children (3-7 years old) were selected from around the country. Developmental trends in interview dynamics and the pattern of disclosure were analyzed. Analyses showed that the interviews were long but involved few open-ended and many suggestive questions, especially in interviews with the youngest children who did not disclose. Because similar findings were obtained in previous studies of Norwegian interviews not using this model, the findings suggest that the SI interview model does little to improve the formal quality of forensic interviews with very young children, and show the need to develop new forms of interviewer training which are more intensive than those currently employed.

High-quality interviews that follow best-practice guidelines are the best means available to frontline child protective service (CPS) workers and specially trained police officers to investigate and detect abuse and maltreatment. In Norway, the CPS and police are trained in the same interview method. In the current quantitative study, we investigate sixty-five interviews conducted by the CPS of children ages 4–8 years and seventy-two interviews conducted by the police of children ages 3–6 years. Our analysis shows that the CPS workers presented more open-ended invitations and fewer suggestive questions than the police officers. However, the CPS also asked more option-posing questions. Still, this finding may indicate that CPS workers come closer than police officers to follow best practice guidelines when they conduct child interviews. It should be noted that the police are also trained in an extended interview method, unlike the CPS workers. The number of open-ended invitations was sparse in both samples. Differences in the span of children’s ages in the two samples and different legal frameworks may have affected the findings. Implications for interview training are discussed.

We recently published a study of extended forensic child interviews in Norway which included a large sample (n = 207) of interviews with preschool-aged children (Baugerud et al., 2020). Criticizing the study, Melinder, Magnusson, Ask, et al. (2020) make the bold assertion that: "when [the reader adopts] a different perspective and contextual knowledge [it] change the conclusions." We were curious to read their reinterpretation of our findings but were left disappointed. Melinder et al.'s comments comprised a mixture of unsupported claims, factual errors, misrepresentations of the study and the Norwegian legal system, and mistaken assumptions about the coding practices we employed.In what follows, we address their comments and correct their errors, organized according to their own subheadings.