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A Quick Intro to Child Custody and Parental Mental Health Evaluations
When parents are going through a divorce, one of the most contentious issues is often who will get custody of the children. If the parents cannot come to an agreement on their own, or if the child’s Guardian ad Litem (GAL) has concerns about the parents, the court may order certain types of evaluations to assist the judge in making the final decision. Two types of possible evaluations are child custody evaluations and mental health evaluations. These processes can be long and expensive, so it is important to understand exactly what these evaluations entail and how they can be used to help (or hurt) your case for custody in family court.
Defining the Terms
A child custody evaluation is a process where a mental health professional, most often an experience forensic psychologist who frequently serves as a family court expert in your jurisdiction, interviews the parents and children involved in the custody case, administers certain written tests to the parents, observes the interactions between the parents and children, and reviews relevant documentation (such as school records, medical records, and police reports) to make recommendations to the court about which parent should have or is better suited to have primary custody of the child. A child custody evaluation, at the discretion of the…
