Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Complexity of Child Custody Evaluations
- Development of Assessment Instruments
- Objectives of Child Custody Evaluations
- Instruments for Child Custody Evaluation
- Conclusion
- References
- Authored By
Introduction
Overview of Forensic Family Evaluations
One of the most complicated forensic evaluations is the evaluation of families to assist the court in making custody decisions. What makes child custody evaluations most complex and difficult is that mental health professionals have to examine a number of people, including the child’s parents, the child themselves, and the potential or actual stepparents. In addition, the examination should assess a variety of behaviours, capacities, and needs in order to protect the best interests of the children.
Importance of Child Custody Evaluations
Child custody evaluations in court proceedings are highly important. These evaluations are designed to collect detailed information concerning the child. These tests also collect details about their relationships with each parent and family dynamics. The main objective of child custody evaluation is to gain a complete understanding of the child’s unique needs. It is also helpful in evaluating each parent’s capacity to meet those needs. Child custody evaluations are primarily conducted in court settings, especially in cases with disputes over child custody. In such situations, the court requires an impartial and thorough assessment to inform its decision-making process. These evaluations can impact the court’s decisions regarding which parent will be granted custody. These can also help the court decide on the specific terms of the custody arrangement.
The Psychology of Serial Killers
Complexity of Child Custody Evaluations
Multiple Individuals Involved
Given the highest takes involved in custody cases, such as determining residential placement and decision-making authority for children’s welfare, emotions often run high, thus complicating the evaluation process. The complexity of these evaluations has led mental health professionals to develop instruments to assess factors believed to predict children’s post-divorce adjustment, like prenate parental emotional stability and the child’s attachment to the parents. Recently developed custody-specific tests aim to quantify and evaluate psychological factors necessary in judicial decisions.
Behavioural, Capacity, and Needs Assessments
Mental health professionals gather extensive information through various methods to conduct a child custody evaluation. These can include interviews with the child, parents, and other relevant individuals. It can also include observations of parent-child interactions, psychological testing, and reviews of necessary documents such as medical and school records. This multi-faceted approach helps create a detailed picture of the family’s dynamics and the child’s needs. The evaluation process often involves assessing several vital areas. These can include
- Emotional stability of each parent
- The quality of the child’s attachment to each parent
- How well the child adjusts to changes
- Any other potential risks to the child’s well-being.
Evaluators look at each parent’s strengths and weaknesses, parenting styles, and ability to provide a stable and nurturing environment for the child.
Development of Assessment Instruments
Predicting Post-Divorce Adjustment
Recently, there has been a trend toward developing custody-specific psychological tests. These tests assess the most relevant factors in child custody cases. Despite their usefulness, mental health professionals must carefully consider which tests to use. The selection should be based on the case’s specific circumstances and the tests’ reliability and validity. Using inappropriate or poorly validated instruments can lead to misleading conclusions, which could negatively impact the court’s decision-making process.
Custody-Specific Tests
A helpful framework that can be utilized by mental health practitioners to conduct forensic evaluations is Grisso’s (1986) model. This model is very helpful in evaluating the potential benefits of psychological testing in custody evaluations. Evaluators should begin by identifying the psychological constructs they need to assess. This involves examining child custody laws. Based on the law, we need to identify the relevant psychological, emotional, and behavioural constructs to be used. Next, choosing an assessment method or tests that measure those specific constructs or related constructs of interest is important. It is essential to recognize that tests that are valid and appropriate in one context may not be suitable in another. Thus, a test that reliably and validly assesses a construct like psychopathology in one setting, such as psychiatric hospitals, may not be particularly useful in another setting, such as custody evaluations.
Objectives of Child Custody Evaluations
Understanding the Child’s Unique Needs
These evaluations aim to comprehensively understand the child’s unique needs and how each parent can meet those needs. They focus on various aspects, including each parent’s emotional stability, the child’s attachment to each parent, and the child’s adjustment to changes. Assessing each parent’s strengths and weaknesses helps determine their capacity to provide a stable and nurturing environment.
Evaluating Parental Capacities
Mental health professionals use various methods to gather information for custody evaluations. These methods include interviews, observations, psychological testing, and reviewing documents. This thorough approach ensures that the evaluation covers all necessary aspects to provide a detailed picture of the family dynamics and the child’s needs.
Instruments for Child Custody Evaluation
Perception of Relationships Test (PORT)
The PORT is a projective psychological assessment using human figure drawings and their placements to evaluate relationships. It aims to measure
- The extent to which a child seeks “psychological closeness” with each parent
- The nature of interactions the child has with each parent.
The test includes seven drawing tasks and is suitable for children aged 3 and older. By scoring children’s drawings of themselves, their parents, and their families, the test helps identify the primary caretaking parent. The PORT can potentially detect physical and sexual abuse by identifying the “psychological consequences of abuse.”
Bricklin Perceptual Scales (BPS)
The BPS test is designed to measure the perception of a child of each parent. These perceptions are scaled in terms of competence, supportiveness, consistency in follow-up, and possession of admirable traits. Using a card and stylus, the child indicates how well each parent performs certain behaviours (e.g., being patient) or tasks (e.g., helping with schoolwork) by marking a continuum from “not so well” to “very well.” Children also provide verbal responses. Each parent is rated on the same 32 items, totalling 64 items spread across four scales. The parent receiving more positive ratings is considered the preferred parent. This test assumes that children’s verbal reports may be distorted and that a non-verbal assessment accurately reflects their true preferences.
Parent Perception of Child Profile (PPCP)
The PPCP assesses a parent’s understanding and awareness regarding their child’s development. It also assesses the understanding of the parents about the needs of the child in eight areas-
- Interpersonal relations
- Daily routine
- Health history
- Developmental history
- School History
- Fears of the Child
- Personal hygiene,
- Communication style
The rationale is that a parent who is more knowledgeable about the child’s needs and development will likely be a better caregiver. The PPCP can be administered by an examiner in an interview format or self-administered by the parent.
Parent Awareness Skills Survey (PASS)
The PASS is a clinical tool designed to identify the strengths and weaknesses in parents’ awareness skills when reacting to typical childcare situations. It consists of 18 childcare scenarios representing relevant parenting behaviours applicable to children of various ages. This tool is based on the common-sense idea that a parent’s child-rearing abilities can be partly assessed by their responses to these scenarios. After presenting a situation, the parent responds with follow-up questions from the examiner as necessary. The responses are then evaluated and scored.
Ackerman-Schoendorf Scales for Parent Evaluation of Custody (ASPECT)
The ASPECT is a rating instrument designed to evaluate parents’ relative child-rearing abilities. Rather than a single test, it is a test battery that includes observations and interviews with parents and children, responses to parenting questionnaires, and the results of various tests. These tests include the MMPI/MMPI-2 (for parents), the Rorschach Inkblot Technique (for both parents and children), intelligence measures (for both parents and children), achievement measures (for children), and projective storytelling devices (for children). The ASPECT comprises three subscales (Observational, Social, Cognitive-Emotional) that yield an overall summary index of parenting effectiveness for each parent, referred to as the Parent Custody Index (PCI).
Custody Quotient (CQ)
The CQ (Gordon & Peek, 1989) was initially developed as a research tool to assess parenting skills in custody evaluations and provide a standardized score based on ratings from various sources. Parents are rated on several areas: (a) emotional needs, (b) physical needs, (c) absence of dangers, (d) good parenting, (e) parental assistance, (f) planning, (g) home stability, (h) prior caregiving, (i) acts and omissions, (j) values, (k) joint custody, and (l) frankness (Fabry & Bischoff, 1992). Parents are rated on a 3-point scale (0 = weak to 2 = highly competent) across these areas, with the scores summed and standardized to derive a composite score or Custody Quotient.
Conclusion
Summary of Evaluation Importance
These tools and tests provide comprehensive and objective insights into the dynamics of parent-child relationships and parenting abilities in custody evaluations. By using these varied instruments, evaluators can form a more rounded picture of each parent’s capability to meet the child’s needs, thereby aiding the court in making informed decisions prioritising the child’s well-being and development.
Final Thoughts on Custody Evaluations
Using a thorough and methodical approach to child custody evaluations ensures that the best interests of the child are the primary focus, ultimately helping courts make decisions that support the child’s long-term welfare and adjustment post-divorce.
References
- Chung DS, Moon DS, Lee MH, Kwack YS. Custody Evaluation Process and Report Writing. Soa Chongsonyon Chongsin Uihak. 2020 Apr 1;31(2):58-65. doi: 10.5765/jkacap.200006. PMID: 32595343; PMCID: PMC7289475.
- https://www.fandvt.com/what-role-do-child-custody-evaluations-play-in-court-decisions-what-role-do-child-custody-evaluations-play-in-court-decisions/
- Otto, R. K., Edens, J. F., & Barcus, E. H. (2000). The use of psychological testing in child custody evaluations. Family Court Review, 38(3), 312-340.
Authored By
Prashansa Tripathi
Prashansa Tripathi is a Researcher and Forensic Psychologist with a master’s degree in Forensic Psychology and two years of experience. She is dedicated to making forensic psychology accessible to all and is particularly interested in deception and the neuropsychology of truth-telling. Outside of work, she enjoys reading, writing, and exploring nature.
Connect on LinkedIn: Click Here
Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.
Discover more from Forensic's blog
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
