First, detectives called to investigate when an accusation of sexual abuse has been made must guard against developing pre-conceived opinions of the accused before an investigation has even begun. They must carefully avoid treating a child accuser as a "victim," instead of the accurate term, a "complainant." Instead, they must take the time to question a child accuser carefully, without the use of leading and suggestive questions. Asking questions like "what happened," which require the child accuser to describe events in his or her own words, will yield more accurate information and may reveal that an alleged "abuse" was actually nothing more than a simple misunderstanding.

Detectives also need to determine the source of an accusation; specifically, is it coming from the child or one of the parents? Is the parent making the accusation, be it against an ex-spouse, grandparent of the complainant, or anyone else, a rational person, or someone prone to hysterical behavior? Is the accusing parent on any kind of medication, such as Zoloft, or other powerful anti-depressant or anti-psychotic drug? Detectives need to consider the possibility that an accusation of sexual abuse is in fact false, and was made to satisfy a grudge against the person accused. They must be willing to thoroughly investigate and question the accuser(s) to make sure they do not end up arresting an innocent person.

Next, medical evidence must be obtained before even considering that probable cause for charges of sexual abuse, molestation or battery actually exists. The doctor conducting the examination must be absolutely certain that reliable signs of sexual abuse are present, rather than taking a guess that certain medical indications might be "indicative of sexual activity," when those conditions could have resulted from other causes. The doctor should have enough medical experience to know what to look for in real sexual abuse, so as to be able to determine if evidence of actual abuse is present. If there is no evidence of sexual abuse present, there is no probable cause for charges of abuse, molestation or battery.

Third, social workers and other child interviewers must be thoroughly trained in proper interview techniques. As Cowling personally observes, "most unfortunately, in case after case, that I am personally involved in, I see interview examples, involving child accusers, that are absolutely absurd. In many cases, these interviews actually contribute to the allegations themselves." At present, case workers are, on average, very poorly trained in acceptable interviewing of child accusers. Instead of asking questions that begin with who, what, when, where, why and how, which allow the opportunity to describe in their own words what actually happened, interviewers ask such leading and suggestive questions that it cannot be accurately determined whether the allegation is coming from the child or the interviewer.

All interviews should be either video- or audio-taped, with printed transcripts provided as well. Interviews that are taped provide accurate details on how the questioning was conducted, and must be made immediately available for a person falsely accused and his/her attorney to challenge as "evidence."

Finally, it must be noted how many times the child accuser was interviewed by police, social workers, psychologists, and other professionals. It is not uncommon in a typical allegation for a child to be questioned by several people during a case. If a child has been interviewed several times, there is a