Intimate Partner Violence and Child Custody Evaluation, Part I: Theoretical Framework, Forensic Model, and Assessment Issues

Abstract

An integrative conceptual framework and forensic evaluation model are presented for custody evaluators when the issue of Intimate Partner Violence is salient in a child custody case (IPV-CC). A revised typology of IPV combines previously proposed categories with a violence risk assessment approach to reflect both the descriptive and predictive functions for evaluators. It is a research-based forensic model. Continuous and categorical variable approaches to the analysis of IPV in custody cases are presented and contrasted. Ten behavioral dimensions of IPV-CC are described to serve as a multidimensional behavioral grid approach to the assessment of IPV. The integrated framework and perspective allows for greater behavioral specificity in the analysis. It avoids problems inherent in forensic assessment by subtype labeling. The court will be better informed by a multidimensional and continuous variable approach that provides behavioral versus categorical differentiation. This approach allows for more accurate and efficient risk communications to the court and translation to parenting plan recommendations. Issues involved with the forensic assessment of IPV in the custody context and making predictions/ recommendations about future parenting, co-parenting, and child adjustment are discussed.