Question

Forensic Psychology: Family Law and Civil Litigation

Child Custody Evaluation

When a court is asked to look into matters of the custody of a child, what assessments are used and what are their purposes?

What does the 'best interest of the child' mean? Please explain in depth.

What is the thought behind having the child having participate in the issue of their custody?

Answer 1

• A Child Custody Evaluation (also known as a 730 Evaluation) is a comprehensive forensic investigation ordered by the court, whereby the psychologist assists parents and the court in determining a parenting or child sharing plan which is in the children's best interests.
• These type of complex psychological evaluations are only conducted by highly trained psychologists.
  
• Child Custody Evaluations typically address a full range of psychological, child custody, and co-parenting issues. Child Custody Evaluations are also frequently utilized by the court when there are questions about parental psychiatric illness, substance abuse, child alienation, domestic violence, child abuse, or special needs children whose parents have undergone a divorce.
• A comprehensive Child Custody Evaluation includes the following:
• Individual interviews and psychological testing with parents
• Individual interviews and psychological testing with children
• Home visits to each parent's home
• Interviews with stepparents or significant others living in the home of either parent
• Collateral interviews with professionals who have worked with family members, including mental health professionals, teachers, child care providers, physicians
• Review of court records and pertinent documents provide by counsel
• A detailed and comprehensive report outlining specific recommendation for a parenting plan
• In addition, the evaluator might do psychological testing or use questionnaires that help provide additional information about your emotional functioning or parenting style.
• These additional techniques are commonly used by psychologists, especially in more complicated evaluations, and they are designed to provide further information that will help in his/her recommendations.
• An assessment is a report prepared by an expert, called an assessor, to help the parents and the court make decisions about custody, access, and parenting arrangements.
• Custody and access assessors can be psychologists, social workers, psychiatrists, or mental health professionals.
• An assessment gives the judge independent evidence about the child's wishes or what is in the best interests of the child.A judge generally orders an assessment only where it is necessary to help them make decisions about custody, access, and parenting arrangements.
  
• In the context of child custody cases, focusing on the child's "best interests" means that all custody and visitation discussions and decisions are made with the ultimate goal of fostering and encouraging the child's happiness, security, mental health, and emotional development into young adulthood.
• Nearly all courts base child custody decisions on the best interests of the child standard. This means that the judge will determine the custody arrangement that best suits the child’s needs, based on a variety of factors.
• Generally speaking, it's often in the child's best interests to maintain a close and loving relationship with both parents, but the practicalities of promoting and maintaining such relationships can be the main challenge in resolving a child custody dispute.
• In any custody conflict it's crucial that the parent should not lose sight of the importance of making decisions in the best interests of their children. The choices they make now (or the decisions a court makes for them) will affect the child's development, as well as their relationship with them, in a number of crucial ways for years to come.
• Some factors determining the child's best interests:-
• Wishes of the child (if old enough to capably express a reasonable preference);
• Mental and physical health of the parents;
• If a child has special needs, how does each parent take care of those needs;
• Religion and/or cultural considerations;
• Need for continuation of stable home environment;
• Other children whose custody is relevant to this child's custody arrangement;
• Support and opportunity for interaction with members of extended family of either parent such as grandparents;
• Interaction and interrelationship with other members of household;
• Adjustment to school and community;
• Age and sex of child;
• Is there a pattern of domestic violence in the home;
• Parental use of excessive discipline or emotional abuse; and
• Evidence of parental drug, alcohol or child/sex abuse.
• Judges strongly favor keeping a child in an arrangement that the child is familiar with, such as allowing a child to remain in the same school or neighborhood.
• Toward that end, judges generally do not favor an arrangement in which one parent is denied access to the child or where visitation would be difficult.
• Even in cases where one parent is granted sole physical custody, the other parent usually has the right to visitation.
• This is because child custody laws in most states favor custody arrangements that allow both parents to maintain a close and loving relationship with their child.
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