Two or three interviews

Scoring and interpretation of several standardized personality and parenting tests

Reading background information

Telephone consultation with attorneys, social workers, and collateral information sources

Observation of interaction between parent and child

These create

Report preparation

Finished Reports with or without Recommendations

Then court testimony may or may not be required.

Interview: By physical meeting with or telephone contact with the adult principals in the child custody dispute; the children that are the focus of the dispute; children related; or who do or will have contact with these children; adults that do have or will have contact with the parents or the children themselves.

Documents: may be accepted and considered during the interview. Interview, as a method, is used extensively by conciliation and home study evaluations.

Observation: In the evaluator's facility or the principal's home, and may include the adult principals in the child custody dispute; the children that are the focus of the dispute; children related; or who do or will have contact with these children; adults who do have or will have contact with the parents or the children themselves. Observation is used extensively in physical examination, psychological evaluation and home study.

Testing: In the evaluator's facility, and may include physical, chemical and/or psychological testing of the adult principals in the child custody dispute; the children that are the focus of the dispute; children related; or who do or will have contact with these children; adults who do have or will have close contact with the parents or the children themselves in the home.

Who and Why?

Evaluators are usually mental health professionals with formal training and experience in family court matters. Some evaluators are trained to do child evaluations, and they only perform this service for the court. When the court wants more information than the attorneys may wish to present in court, evaluators are appointed.

They gather specific facts that might be compared to make a better determination for the long-term welfare of the children. The evaluator may wish to see the environments and speak to the people influencing the welfare of your children. The product of the evaluation will be a written report that will contain recommendations as to placement of the children and visitation schedule.

A good judge will appoint an evaluator to take a closer look at the circumstances in the case. The judge's aim is to make the best possible decision for the children, within the limits of the law. A judge may place the entire decision of child custody and visitation on the evaluator.

Judges usually give instructions and make decisions in response to a request from one of the parties. A judge can make a sua sponte decision on his own observation, without a request made by any party involved in the proceedings, such as to order testing or a change to a new court. It may be a windfall or a problem for your case. Consult with your attorney about the ramifications to your case and if any action can be or should be taken.

One way to avoid these kinds of surprises is to be well prepared. As an example: during the evaluation process make sure your evaluator has information and knowledge about any special challenges in your case such as:

Parental Alienation Syndrome = PAS

Malicious Mother Syndrome = MMS

Fulsome Father Syndrome = FFS

Bipolar Disorder = BPD

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder = OCD

Dissociative Identity Disorder = DID

Repressed Memory Disorder = RAD

Oppositional Defiant Disorder = ODD

The evaluator will attempt to determine how they impact a child custody battle. You can protect yourself by making sure the evaluator is well qualified and will adhere to guidelines set forth by the American Psychological Association (APA). Evaluators with the designations L.C.S.W., or M.S.W., should be asked if they are aware of the APA guidelines and if there is a written professional code of ethics to which he or she adheres. If the answer is yes, request a copy of those ethics. If the answer is no find a new evaluator. Prepare a list of qualified evaluators from which the opposition may choose a name.

Even if the evaluator is not licensed, they probably operate within some sort of "standards of practice" or "guideline." Any guideline that is not followed should be considered reason to impeach the report or may even be a good basis for a civil or malpractice suit.

Since the expertise of the mental health profession has come to be relied upon by the courts, the opinion of the forensic psychologist should only be based on information that is in their records and available for inspection. If relevant documents have been ignored, they may be evaluated at this time. Transparency in child custody related work prevents information from being used out of context during deposition and trial.

Attitude with the Evaluator

Be the first one to see the evaluator. Be on time for your appointment. Make sure your appearance is neat, clean and conservative. Be open and honest with the evaluator. The evaluator is trained to hear what you say, understand what you mean, and read your body language. He or she is trained to identify a hundred different signals you give that you do not even know you are sending. Do show a confident attitude. Listen attentively and maintain eye contact when you are speaking to the evaluator.

Do not become frustrated if your children behave in an unacceptable manner during the observation period. The evaluator is more concerned with how you respond to your children than with how good their manners are.

Have a clear image of what kind of parent you are. The evaluator is less interested in a parent that works long hours to keep a child in brand name clothes and state-of-the-art toys. They want to see a parent who knows how the children are doing in school, who their friends are, what stories they have this parent read at bedtime and if the parent participates in the children's activities on a regular basis.

Identify your relationship with the children. The evaluator knows that working parents often work harder at the relationship with their children to compensate for the large blocks of time the parent must be away from them.

Demonstrate how you capitalize on the time you do have with your children.

Avoid overacting, interrupting, speaking too fast, getting angry and arguing with the evaluator. Your motives will be looked at in great detail. Any indication that a parent is

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