If abuse is suspected, forensic psychologists are legally required to alert the court. Forensic psychology child custody evaluations are rigorous, methodical, and evidence-based.
Forensic psychologists consider data in context, relying on their professional ethics and experience to guide them in making — or declining to make — recommendations in a child custody case. There are differences between legal custody, physical custody, sole custody, and joint custody. Physical custody means that a parent or parents have the right to have a child live with them.
Sole custody means that one parent has either sole legal custody or sole physical custody of a child. Parents at the beginning of this process and eager for resolution may be asking themselves, just how long does a child custody evaluation take? There is no easy answer. The length of a custody evaluation varies depending on the state, situation, and level of urgency. These meetings are used to gather general background information and sometimes include psychological testing beyond the parent and child.
Joint Child-Parent Meetings. After the initial interview, a second interview with you and your child ren will be arranged. This will give the evaluator opportunity to observe you and your child interacting together and to interview you both at the same time.
Remember, the other parent will also have a joint parent-child meeting. Sometimes, other meetings will be required and requested by the evaluator. Make no mistake; children will be interviewed during this evaluation process. If there is a forensic child custody evaluation ordered, the children must be a part of that process. In addition to the joint meetings with the parents, the evaluator will meet with your children as a group as well as individually, depending on their respective ages and levels of maturity.
Home Visits. The evaluator will arrange for one, if not more, extended home observations with each parent. These visits are designed to give the evaluator an opportunity to see the appropriateness of the home and observe how the parent and child interact with each other within the home. Often these visits last hours sometimes longer and include a mealtime.
Yes, it helps to come prepared. Aside from having the information the evaluator needs to complete the report, collecting this data and bringing it with you can give you a sense of control over a process that may seem overwhelming. Even if you do not bring information to your first meeting with the evaluator, you will likely be asked to provide at some future point:.
The evaluator may also ask the child to draw pictures of his or her family, house, etc. Many parents are uncertain what to say, if anything, to the children to prepare them for the interviews with the evaluator.
While it may be tempting, do not coach children on what to say, or not to say, to the evaluator. In other cases, an evaluation may happen outside of the court, but with the evaluator meeting with the family in an office. In a full-blown evaluation, the custody evaluator will typically conduct psychological assessments of both parents, meet with each member of the family individually, and meet with the parent and children in each home.
There is a written report that may be issued within a few weeks. The focus of any child custody evaluation is to find what is best for the children and to be very child focused. It is important to note that it is typical that everybody has some degree of unhappiness when a child custody evaluation is ordered.
Nobody will get exactly what they desire, because sharing custody of children necessarily means that there will be compromise by everyone. If you are going through a child custody evaluation, it is important to be truthful with your children, and to encourage them to be truthful. Someone is going to come and talk with our family and help us make those decisions. When you speak with them, please be honest and say what you want.
It is also important to let them know that the evaluator will listen to everyone and then they will write a report to help the judge make the final decision. Do your research and, as always, proceed with caution. Sometimes custody evaluations are unavoidable. If you can avoid them, do so. The less people you have judging you, watching you, twisting your words and gestures, and looking for ways to justify NOT giving you meaningful custody — but to take it away — we feel the better off you will be.
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