M4:2 Submission
Custody Evaluation
Forensic professionals are often called upon to provide opinions about custody in cases of divorce, parental termination, and reestablishment of custody after a child has been removed from the custodial parent’s home. Specific ethical and legal parameters govern when and how a professional should offer such an opinion in a legal setting. For this assignment, you will be asked to provide an analysis of factors relevant to custody evaluations or evaluations for termination of parental rights.
Tasks:
In a 3- to 4-page paper, address the following:
- The best interests of the child, with a specific focus on how this is defined in the APA guidelines
- The manner in which the best-interest decisions are influenced by the wishes of the child
- The difference between a fact and an expert witness in the cases of child custody
- The specific procedures, including parent interviews, child interviews, observations, and objective tests, used in custody evaluations
- The issues surrounding confidentiality, privilege, and privacy in custody evaluations
- The court testimony in custody evaluations, with emphasis on the collective use of data and opinion versus fact in reporting the results
Use three additional resources