{"id":21994,"date":"2022-09-10T19:46:27","date_gmt":"2022-09-10T19:46:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esperanzaunited.org\/?post_type=cde-knowledge-base&#038;p=21994"},"modified":"2025-08-27T10:11:31","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T15:11:31","slug":"avoiding-the-use-of-children-as-interpreters","status":"publish","type":"cde-knowledge-base","link":"https:\/\/esperanzaunited.org\/en\/knowledge-base\/enhancing-court-access\/avoiding-the-use-of-children-as-interpreters\/","title":{"rendered":"Avoiding the use of children as interpreters"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"21994\" class=\"elementor elementor-21994\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-52acb20 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default tf-sticky-section tf-sticky-no\" data-id=\"52acb20\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\" data-settings=\"{&quot;tf_sticky&quot;:&quot;no&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-fa7c23d\" data-id=\"fa7c23d\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-d85645d elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"d85645d\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3><b>\u201cIt shouldn\u2019t rest on me\u201d<\/b><\/h3><h4><b>Providing meaningful language access and avoiding the use of children as interpreters\u00a0<\/b><\/h4><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The use of certified or qualified interpreters and certified bilingual officers is considered a best practice for language access provision. Using unqualified interpreters, family members, children or bystanders as a means for communicating with individuals with LEP can significantly reduce the accuracy of the interpretation, undermine victim privacy and confidentiality, result in conflicts of interest, and cause interpretation errors that may exacerbate language barriers and misunderstandings.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These barriers can, in turn, jeopardize an investigation and even put the safety of the victim and community at risk. The use of children as interpreters during law enforcement interactions is especially problematic. Interpreting in high stakes situations, particularly when the life, safety or well-being of a loved one may be at risk, is an enormous responsibility that can generate feelings of anxiety and stress, particularly in children, and compound the trauma that these children are already experiencing. Moreover, children\u2019s limited understanding of adult issues and terminology may result in interpretation errors, summarization of events in which necessary details are omitted, and additions or paraphrasing that may significantly impact the information that is being relayed (Flores, 2005; Juckett &amp; Unger, 2014).\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Download the <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt shouldn\u2019t rest on me\u201d<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> tool to find resources, references, and model language on providing meaningful language access and avoiding the use of children as interpreters.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-f165f83 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default tf-sticky-section tf-sticky-no\" data-id=\"f165f83\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\" data-settings=\"{&quot;tf_sticky&quot;:&quot;no&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-9794807\" data-id=\"9794807\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-56a235f elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"56a235f\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div>\u00a0<\/div><div style=\"text-align: right;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 200;\">Last updated 2022<\/span><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cIt shouldn\u2019t rest on me\u201d Providing meaningful language access and avoiding the use of children as interpreters\u00a0 The use of certified or qualified interpreters and certified bilingual officers is considered a best practice for language access provision. Using unqualified interpreters, family members, children or bystanders as a means for communicating with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]"},"media_category":[228,530],"media_tags":[266,291],"class_list":["post-21994","cde-knowledge-base","type-cde-knowledge-base","status-publish","hentry","media_category-toolkits","media_category-enhancing-court-access","media_tags-free","media_tags-training-and-technical-assistance"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esperanzaunited.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cde-knowledge-base\/21994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esperanzaunited.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cde-knowledge-base"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esperanzaunited.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cde-knowledge-base"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esperanzaunited.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/esperanzaunited.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cde-knowledge-base\/21994\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36944,"href":"https:\/\/esperanzaunited.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cde-knowledge-base\/21994\/revisions\/36944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esperanzaunited.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"media_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esperanzaunited.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_category?post=21994"},{"taxonomy":"media_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esperanzaunited.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_tags?post=21994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}