Guidelines for Child Custody Evaluations in Divorce Proceedings

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Objectives of Child Custody evaluations

• The main aim is to estimate the best psychological interests of the child
• The well being and interest of the child is of maximum importance
• The developmental and psychological requirements of the child are matched with the parenting capacity and the resultant fit is found out

• The psychologist is a professional expert who works hard to consistently have an impartial and objective outlook
• The psychologist has knowledge of societal and personal favoritism and despite being aware of these conducts a non discriminatory practice
• This psychologist has to prevent the formation of multiple relations

• The psychologist has to inform the adult participants of this evaluation, take their consent and if rightful, inform the child participants: All the participants are made aware of the following
  • The method, nature and purpose of the evaluation
  • Who has requested the services of the psychologist?
  • Who is responsible for payment of the fees?
• The psychologist conveys the limits of confidentiality and the procedure of disclosing information to all the participants: It is made clear that the participants, inclusive of children, are dealing with a professional relation with the psychologist

• The psychologist makes use of multiple methods to collect information: Some examples are observation, clinical interviews and psychological estimations

• This psychologist has to take care that he/she is not wrongly interpreting or over interpreting assessment or clinical information: Any conclusion that is not sufficiently endorsed by data is not drawn. If the methods or data used has any limitations, the psychologist divulges this to the court

• After the psychologist has personally evaluated an individual, this psychologist does not opine about the psychological functioning of this person: However, the psychologist may deal with hypothetical questions or theoretical issues and may report what an individual has said in the evaluation

• The psychologist offers some recommendations keeping in mind what are the best interests of the child

• The financial arrangements must be made clear by the psychologist: While billing for this procedure is done, the psychologist must not misrepresent the service for purposes of reimbursement

• This psychologist has to maintain written records: The APA Record Keeping Guidelines and relevant statutory guidelines are to be adhered to while maintaining and filing records obtained in the evaluation

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