Increasing access to justice for children: A brief report on the Brazilian Sign Language version of the NICHD protocol

Children with disabilities are abused, including sexually abused, at higher rates than their non-disabled counterparts. To ensure access to justice for all child victims of violence, child protection systems must have adequate protocols and training to support each child, including those who are hard of hearing or deaf. One important modification is ensuring that investigative interview protocols, such as the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development investigative interview protocol (NICHD), are adapted to provide hard of hearing children with the interview's full benefits. The current report presents an innovative effort to develop a culturally-sensitive translation of the NICHD from Brazilian Portuguese to Brazilian Sign Language (LIBRAS) and an accompanying training on the NICHD for translators (NICHD-LIBRAS). The NICHD-LIBRAS was translated by a three-step process. In Step 1, the Brazilian NICHD was translated by a certified LIBRAS translator into morphemes. In Step 2, the authors used a modulation format to detect discrepancies between the original protocol and the translated language. Finally, in Step 3, the protocol was recorded into a video format, back-translated by a certified LIBRAS interpreter, and posted on YouTube. The tool is publicly available for Brazilian professionals and for researchers to test its efficacy and feasibility. The current brief report aims to encourage future efforts to adapt investigative interview protocols for children with disabilities and to advance access to justice for children from diverse contexts.