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Narrator: When children are the victims of crimes, the FBI takes great care to ensure our investigations don't re-victimize them.

This is where the Bureau's child and adolescent forensic interviewers, or CAFIs, come in. CAFIs adhere to rigorous, research-based protocols in their interviews. They also rely heavily on their experience and intuition to build rapport and establish trust.

Katie Connell is one of the FBI’s longest-serving CAFIs and is the subject of today’s “My Mission” episode on Inside the FBI.

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Catherine Connell: My name is Catherine Connell, and most people know me as Katie. My job for the FBI is I am a child and adolescent forensic interviewer. My job is to interview victims, forensically interview victims that we come across in the Bureau, primarily in our ... any kind of sexual exploitation violation that we have, anything, again, involving a victim usually under the age of 18. However, we do interview young adults, sometimes even adults who had never disclosed their abuse before and this might be the first time.

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We here at the FBI have a protocol that's very specific of how we interview victims. So, when we're in that room, we start out by building rapport and then we're giving rules to the victim of, "We want you to make sure everything you talk about is the truth. I ask a lot of questions. If you don't know an answer, tell me you don't know. If you don't want to give me an answer, tell me you don't want to." Make sure they correct us if we get something wrong.

We are conducting an interview about a potential crime. But you go into this interview not assuming a crime happened. You're going to hypothesis test. So, we develop an alternative hypothesis of, "Is there another reason the victim might be saying this or for what is being said?" And that way, again, we're the neutral fact-finder in that interview process.

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I do love what I do. I don't know that everybody can do this work. It's not for everyone. People sometimes can't hear the content or process that content that we hear on a daily basis. But I always look at it that we're not the investigators; we don't do it all. But we are a piece of that investigation … That’s my way of helping that victim at that time. That day when I’m there doing that interview, that's my contribution to not only the investigation, but, hopefully, their healing process, going forward.

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Some days are frustrating and hard, but I think what keeps me here is I refocus it and go, "What is the mission?" You know, ours is still a critical piece of the FBI's mission to protect victims of child sex trafficking, sextortion. And so, I think it's unique. Every day it's somebody different.

You know, you might be weary of the travel because we travel almost every week, and so, some days I'm super tired and I didn't want to drive to Toledo yesterday and I did. I was there Monday and then I had to go back Tuesday. But you know what? It was the victim that brought me back and what was happening to her, and it was pretty critical that I go back, and so, that's how come I did.

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I am a mother of two. My kids were little when I started interviewing—toddlers.

My daughter once said to me—I was leaving very suddenly and going to miss a school function of hers, she's never let me forget it—but I said, "You know what? These kids really need me," and she said, "Yeah, but so do I." That was one of those moments where you go, "Okay: We need to make sure we're adjusting things a little bit differently at home and making sure that I am very present when I walk in." And it's not always easy, still isn't. I mean better, over the years, you try to learn that balance. But they know, sometimes you do need some quiet time when I walk in, and they know that. They've learned to read mom a little better. I say, "Just give me a few,” and then you can be part of the family. But you have to: You have to learn to compartmentalize some of that.

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I think at first my kids were embarrassed when they were younger. My daughter didn't want me to come for parent day to speak about jobs. My daughter asked me not to come because she didn't want to be known as the kid whose mom talks about sex all the time. But now, as they've gotten older, I think they're proud of their mom. They know what I do and I think they're proud of that.

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Narrator: That was Katie Connell, a child and adolescent forensic interviewer and head of the Child Victims Services Unit in our Victim Services Division.

More information about CAFIs and the FBI’s role in helping crime victims is on our website, fbi.gov.

To hear other FBI personnel reflect on their unique missions within the FBI, visit us at fbi.gov/mymission.

This has been another production of Inside the FBI. You can follow us on your favorite podcast player.

You can also subscribe to email alerts about new episodes at fbi.gov/podcasts.

Thanks for tuning in.

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