Custody Evaluations Research Articles

Use of Collateral Contacts in Child Custody Evaluations

ABSTRACT Four hundred nineteen members of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC) identify themselves as custody evaluators in the 1999–2000 membership directory. One hundred of these custody evaluators were randomly selected for inclusion in this survey of the use of collateral contact interviews in child custody evaluations. Fifty-three of those selected responded to a brief questionnaire concerning their use and views of collaterals. All evaluators reported use of the collateral interview. Most practitioners reported using both personal and telephone interviews. Respondents indicated that they interview family and friends, but routinely place greater trust in more objective sources that have no obvious, vested interest in outcome. More experienced evaluators reported evolving toward use of written questionnaires for use in interviewing collateral sources for purposes of risk management as well as increasing relevance and convergent validity.

Response to Amundson, Lux and Hindmarch: Critique of Investigative Practices Article

ABSTRACT This article responds to a commentary by Amundson, Lux and Hindmarch (2005), in which they offer a pejorative criticism about our article (Austin & Kirkpatrick, 2004) in which we described the investigative component within comprehensive child custody evaluations–something they label as “maximalist” evaluations and contrast with a model they prefer called the “minimalist” approach. We believe our approach to custody evaluations is in keeping with the current standard of practice and professional guidelines.

Investigative vs. Clinical Emphasis in Child Custody Evaluation: A Reflection on Austin and Kirkpatrick(2004)

ABSTRACT There is an ongoing discussion regarding the role of psychologists in child custody relative to clinical vs. investigative roles. The issues revolve around how expansive or how limited a professional might be in addressing the concerns of families, adults and children in high conflict custody cases. In the article, the investigative or more maximalist role is discussed in the light of the alternative more clinical or minimalist stance. An argument is advanced that we may be limited to a more clinical/minimalist role if we are to stay within the confines of research informed practice standards.

Young Children's Problematic Sexual Behaviors, Unsubstantiated Allegations of Child Sexual Abuse, and Family Boundaries in Child Custody Disputes

ABSTRACT Allegations of child sexual abuse are sometimes alleged based on a child's problematic sexual behaviors. When the allegations are unsubstantiated, child custody evaluators are asked to make recommendations regarding custody. Historically, it has been believed that if a child engages in problematic sexual behaviors it is strong evidence of child sexual abuse. Recent research finds that there are many reasons, other than overt sexual abuse, for children to engage in problematic sexual behaviors. This article outlines these reasons and provides a methodology for the evaluation of the boundaries in both parents' homes to assist in determining the possible etiology of the problematic sexual behaviors of the child. Suggestions are made regarding visitation and reunification if boundary concerns are found.

An Analysis of Administration, Scoring, and Interpretation of the MMPI-2 and MCMI-II/III in Child Custody Evaluations

ABSTRACT A survey of experienced psychologists was conducted to analyze the procedures used in administering, scoring, and interpreting the MMPI-2 and MCMI-II/III in child custody evaluations. Findings revealed some major concerns, such as over-reliance on computer-generated interpretive reports, lack of knowledge about base rate cut-offs for interpreting the MCMI-II/III, and a failure to consider available MMPI-2 context specific normative data for child custody litigants. Also, a smaller group of psychologists hand scored the protocols or failed to verify computer keypad data entry, and allowed examinees to take the test in the lobby. The rationales underlying these concerns are outlined, along with the need for psychologists to adhere closely to professional and ethical standards in this regard.

Notification of purpose in custody evaluation: Informing the parties and their counsel.

Notification of purpose in custody evaluation: Informing the parties and their counsel.

Is It Alienating Parenting, Role Reversal or Child Abuse? A Study of Children's Rejection of a Parent in Child Custody Disputes

SUMMARY This study of custody disputing families tests competing hypothesis about the correlates of children's alignment with one parent and rejection of the other. Hypotheses include: (a) parental alienation by the aligned parent, (b) abuse by the rejected parent, and (c) boundary diffusion or role reversal in the family. The data were coded from clinical research records of 125 children referred from family courts for custody evaluation or custody counseling. The findings support a multi-factor explanation of children's rejection of a parent with both the aligned and rejected parents contributing to the problem, together with role reversal.

Child Custody Evaluations in Cases Involving Sexual Abuse: A View from the Bench

SUMMARY Psychological evaluation and testimony play a critical role in child sexual abuse cases, especially in custody and visitation cases. While the evaluation generally cannot determine whether sexual abuse has occurred, it can provide useful information to assist the court in deciding matters of custody and access in the face of the allegations. Judges need to know the standard of practice for the development of expert opinion in order to be able to evaluate testimony offered by custody evaluators. The informed judge can develop useful input by outlining expectations within the order for evaluation and actively regulating the gate for admission of expert testimony. Elements of a model order for custody evaluations addressing allegations of sexual abuse are proposed.

Evaluating Allegations of Child Sexual Abuse Within Complex Child Custody Cases

SUMMARY This article provides a framework for identifying and assembling the interdependent elements of a child custody evaluation with allegations of child sexual abuse. The identification of several myths regarding child sexual abuse (CSA) introduces the subject matter of this article. A forensic evaluation model (Heilbrun, 2001) is then used to organize the custody evaluator's tasks into the following sequential classifications: (a) preparation; (b) data collection; (c) data interpretation; and (d) communication of results. Through this model, the entwined tasks of evaluating the child's needs and the parents' capacities to meet the child's needs, while simultaneously examining the question of child sexual abuse, are addressed.

Complex Child Custody Evaluations: Evaluating the Alleged Incestuous Parent

SUMMARY Professionals involved in child custody evaluations are sometimes confronted by the complex issue of one parent accusing the other parent of having sexually assaulted one of the children. There is scant research and theoretical literature to guide the professional in the evaluation of the alleged incestuous parent, or the attorney or judge reviewing such an evaluation. This paper describes the guiding principles of such an evaluation, how to structure the evaluation, methods used for data collection, interpretation of data, and the reasoning processes that lead to an ultimate opinion regarding the allegation. Hypothesis formation and testing is described. The form a recommendation should take given positive assessment findings and negative assessment findings is presented.

Custody Evaluations: Critical Contextual and Ethical Considerations

The area of custody evaluation is fraught with anxiety and tension for parents and children as well as therapists. This article encourages the use of a set of lenses that explores individual and family members' relationships within a variety of contexts. To advance the reader's understanding, a model employing various levels and domains will be presented and described. A variety of critical ethical issues, and challenges often encountered by therapists are also examined.

TIPPINS AND WITTMANN ASKED THE WRONG QUESTION:. Evaluators May Not be "Experts," But They Can Express Best Interests Opinions

Tippins and Wittmann (2005) provide an important analysis of the limitations of child custody evaluations, but they are wrong to propose that court-appointed evaluators should be precluded from making recommendations about best interests decisions. While some of the evidence of evaluators may fail to meet the high standard of reliability expected for “expert evidence,” the role of court-appointed evaluators in child-related cases is not the same as the role of party-retained experts in other types of litigation, and the legal basis for their involvement in the family law dispute resolution process is very different. The family courts should not apply the “expert evidence” standard when deciding how to use the evidence of a court-appointed evaluator, but rather should use a more flexible standard that takes account of the family law context. If the Tippins and Wittmann proposal is adopted, it will have negative implications for the resolution of family law cases, including making settlements less common, thereby deleteriously affecting children.

Practice Guidelines In Child Custody Evaluations for Licensed Clinical Social Workers

Child custody evaluations and decisions are often complicated and emotionally charged. The following guidelines are offered as a framework for clinical social workers who are asked by the judicial system to undertake these evaluations. The historical background of child custody and the theoretical considerations that have guided the courts are reviewed. The traditional areas of consideration and the empirical data related to these areas are examined. The guidelines present pertinent information regarding ethical considerations, parent–child relationship, parenting style, gender issues, parental conflict, parental alienation, domestic violence, race, religion, sexual preferences, geography, parental psychopathology, substance abuse, child’s preference, physical health of the child, and behavioral health of the child. A format for the evaluation process is described and includes the role of the clinician, confidentiality, fees, and review of documents, interviewing, home visits, psychological testing, and the actual written report. Making recommendations to the court regarding child custody is an area of practice that clinical social workers encounter in ever-increasing numbers. Clinical social workers are called upon to give recommendations regarding child custody in neglect or abuse cases, in termination of parental rights proceedings, and in the area divorce and of guardianship. In an effort to provide clinicians with scientifically grounded parameters for rendering these recommendations, the following guidelines are recommended. These guidelines provide a framework of scientific principles, along with established and accepted clinical practice, to enhance the practitioner’s decision making in these challenging and complicated cases. The guidelines are specifically designed for clinical social workers doing custody evaluations in cases of marital divorce and are restricted to that area of practice.

Handbook of Forensic Psychology: Resource for Mental Health and Legal Professionals

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Book Forum: ForensicsFull AccessHandbook of Forensic Psychology: Resource for Mental Health and Legal ProfessionalsRALPH SLOVENKO, J.D., Ph.D., RALPH SLOVENKOSearch for more papers by this author, J.D., Ph.D., Detroit, Mich.Published Online:1 Sep 2005https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.162.9.1773AboutSectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail In this big book, the editors, both from the Department of Psychology, University of Nevada, have assembled 71 contributors, nearly all from university departments of psychology, to produce an encyclopedic handbook of forensic psychology. The volume is organized into four parts: 1) Basic Issues, 2) Assessment, 3) Mental Disorders and Forensic Psychology, and 4) Special Topics. Each part has several chapters, which, in turn, have several sections on different topics.Part 1, Basic Issues, is designed to orient mental health professionals to the practice of law and orient legal professionals to the practice and limitations of psychology. Part 1 has four chapters. The first, “Psychology and the Law,” has seven sections on different issues in psychology and law. Chapter 2 provides an introduction to psychology for attorneys, chapter 3 on ethical issues in forensic psychology, and chapter 4 on forensic report writing.Part 2, Assessment, has the following chapters: “Assessment of Dangerousness and Criminal Responsibility,” “Forensic and Ethical Issues in the Assessment and Treatment of the Suicidal Patient,” “Assessing Intent and Criminal Responsibility,” “Assessing Adjudicative Competency,” “Assessing Mental Competency in the Elderly,” “Child Custody Evaluations,” “Forensic Interviewing of Children,” “Evaluation of Psychological Damages,” “Detecting Malingering,” “Assessment of Substance Abuse,” and “Assessment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.”Part 3, Mental Disorders and Forensic Psychology, has five chapters: “Conduct Disorders and Impulse Control in Children,” “Psychopathic Personality,” “Sexual Deviance,” “Disorders of Impulse Control,” and “Developmental Disabilities and Mental Retardation.”Part 4, Special Topics, has chapters covering issues in eyewitness testimony, recovered memories, Daubert testing (1) of hypnotically refreshed testimony, the polygraph, nonverbal detection of deception, sexual harassment, child abuse and neglect, partner violence, elder abuse, involuntary commitment, selection of jurors, issues of ethnicity, psychology in correctional settings, evaluation of youth in the juvenile justice system, influence tactics in the interrogation room, voluntary intoxication, and sexual assault.As this description of the chapters would indicate, just about every conceivable topic in forensic psychology is covered, but the coverage of each topic is rather thin. Thus, chapter 1 in part 1 covers psychiatrist/psychologist-patient privilege (five pages), expert testimony (five pages), involuntary civil commitment (three pages), criminal commitment (two pages), duality and sexual relationships with clients (one page), memory enhancement techniques (three pages), and Internet psychotherapy (one page). Some of these topics are also discussed in subsequent chapters.As might be expected from a multiauthored work, the writing is uneven, ranging from the interesting to the pedantic, and with repetition. For example, the Tarasoff(2) decision of the California Supreme Court in 1976 on the duty of a therapist to report a patient who poses a danger is discussed no fewer than five times (pp. 8, 86, 104, 560, 774). A somewhat less than satisfactory and uneven bibliography follows each chapter (italicization is inconsistent). Be that as it may, the encyclopedic nature of the book should prove helpful as a reference work for mental health and legal professionals. It was obviously a major enterprise to assemble and coordinate 71 contributors. The book is attractively printed.Reprints are not available; however, Book Forum reviews can be downloaded at http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org.Edited by William T. O’Donohue and Eric R. Levensky. Burlington, Mass., Elsevier Science, 2004, 1,064 pp., $149.95.

Testing, One, Two, Three, Testing: An Attorney Perspective

SUMMARY This article addresses the attorney perspective on the use of psychometric testing in the context of family law child custody evaluations. Although attorneys, judicial officers and child custody evaluators “use” psychometric testing in family law matters, the ways in which each discipline uses the information gleaned from the results of these tests as administered to child custody litigants can differ substantially. This article distinguishes the attorney perspective from the mental health perspective in the use of the results of such tests.

The Ackerman-Schoendorf Scales for Parent Evaluation of Custody (ASPECT): A Review of Research and Update

SUMMARY The Ackerman-Schoendorf Scales for Parent Evaluation of Custody (ASPECT) was first published in 1992, with the ASPECT-SF developed and published in 2001. Since that time, there have been outcome studies, validity studies, and challenges to the psychometric properties of the ASPECT by various authors. This article addresses the validity studies undertaken since the 1992 publication and responds to the various criticisms leveled against the ASPECT. Discussion includes the use of the original ASPECT and the Short Form in its original format and as a structured interview for child custody evaluations.

Clinical Ratings of Parenting Capacity and Rorschach Protocols of Custody-Disputing Parents: An Exploratory Study

SUMMARY In this study, the Rorschach protocols of 98 parents undergoing custody evaluations were correlated with clinical judgments of their alienating co-parenting behavior, parent-child role reversal, lack of warm and involved parenting, and abuse of the child. The results indicate that this personality assessment instrument, scored according to the Comprehensive System, is likely to provide a relatively rich source of data relevant to assessing parenting skills and capacities in custody-disputing families that are convergent with clinical assessments drawn from clinical interviews, parent-child observations, and substantiated histories of child abuse.

The Rorschach: Its Use in Child Custody Evaluations

SUMMARY The Rorschach Inkblot Measure is a personality measure uniquely suited for use in child custody evaluations. It allows examiners to directly obtain measures of behavior from subjects and yields descriptions of numerous traits about individuals. When the Comprehensive System is used for scoring and interpreting the Rorschach, administration is conducted in standardized, reliable ways that ultimately yield data about individuals that is normative, reliable, and valid. Recent criticisms of the Rorschach compel examiners to be well versed in understanding the strengths and limitations of this instrument and to be well trained in understanding its uses and misuses. This article seeks to assist examiners in using the Rorschach competently to describe individuals and families in rich and nuanced ways.

Use of Psychological Tests in Child Custody Assessment

SUMMARY This article describes a functional, comprehensive approach to the use of psychological tests and measures in a child custody evaluation. I describe a conceptual framework to be used in choosing assessment techniques that are used to assess functional aspects of parenting competencies and other related variables helpful in creating a reliable foundation from which to generate opinions about custodial placement and visitation access. Finally, I provide a practical example of how psychological test data might be presented in an advisory report to the court.

What the Rorschach Can Contribute to Child Custody and Parenting Time Evaluations

SUMMARY Personality assessment can indirectly help custody evalu-ators answer important questions about parental competence and the fit between parents' psychological resources and children's needs. It is preferable to use testing to check hypotheses derived from the case information rather than the reverse. The Rorschach makes it possible to assess implicit motives, coping capacities, and need states, thus complementing and supplementing self-attributed personal characteristics from the MMPI-2 and other self-report data. It also offers idiographic information for individualizing assessments. Concerns about admissibility and charges that the Rorschach “overpathologizes” litigants are addressed, and suggestions are offered for making optimal use of the Rorschach in child custody work.