Comprehensive child custody evaluations, parenting evaluations, and best interest evaluations are terms that are used interchangeably by the legal community and mental health professionals.
What is a child custody evaluation?
The purpose of the best interest evaluation, parenting time evaluation, or child custody evaluation is to ascertain what is in the child’s best interest. Essentially, these are same type of evaluation, and may be court-ordered, by consent-order, or the evaluator may be retained by one or both parties. Regardless of being retained by one party or jointly retained, the role of the evaluator is to remain neutral and objective.
What does a child custody evaluation entail?
A mental health professional evaluates the family and recommends a custody arrangement that is in the child’s best interest. These evaluations involve interviewing both parents, the child or children and in some cases, other family members like significant others. All the adults are extensively interviewed and may be administered psychological tests and parenting questionnaires. The children are also interviewed (depending upon their age) and participate in the parent-child observations.
Who does child custody evaluations?
The mental health professional who conducts a child custody evaluation, typically a forensic psychologist, is called an expert witness. An expert or expert witness is a person who has specialized knowledge on a particular topic beyond that of a lay person.
I am a forensic psychologist in Livingston, New Jersey. As an expert witness in forensic psychology, I review various documents, such as court pleadings, certifications, school records, police reports, etc. sent by the attorneys and collateral contacts (other people who have knowledge about the family.) Collaterals, such as friends, family members, health care providers, and teachers, are not contacted unless a release is signed. In some cases, allegations of substance abuse or domestic violence arise and these allegations need to be addressed.
I integrate all of the information gathered during the procedure with the social science literature to formulate my recommendations. The length of time needed to complete the best interest evaluation, parenting time evaluation, or child custody evaluations is typically three to four months, but this depends on the cooperation of the parties.
Where can I do a child custody evaluation in New Jersey?
I conduct child custody evaluations in my office in Livingston, NJ. Contact me to schedule an evaluation.