Evolving Guidelines for Divorce/Custody Evaluations

Commentary on “Empirical and Ethical Problems With Custody Recommendations:” What Now?

“…Arguments have differed little across those decades. For example, returning to an article I wrote for this journal fifteen years ago on “Evolving Guidelines for Divorce/Custody Evaluations” (Grisso, 1990), I rediscovered my effort to describe what clinicians could and could not do in custody evaluations within the limits of a scientific practice:…”

Child Custody Evaluations

“…It describes psychiatric symptoms, personality conflicts, and intellectual abilities and deficits. Therefore, the appropriateness of using the MMPI-2 in custody evaluations has been questioned (Grisso, 1990). It was not designed to, and does not, address many of the questions that are asked in child custody evaluations.…”

“…It was not designed to, and does not, address many of the questions that are asked in child custody evaluations. It provides useful and valid indicators of personality, but there is no research indicating that it is a valid indicator of child-rearing attitudes and practices or relationships between the parents and children (Grisso, 1990).…”

“…Along with a lack of standardized guidelines is a discrepancy in experts' beliefs regarding what is in the child's best interest (Halon, 1990). Grisso (1990) proposed four areas that need to be considered in formulating guidelines for child custody evaluations. These four areas are (a) determining who should be doing child custody evaluations, To determine what methods should be included in custody evaluations, several issues need to be addressed.…”

“…Custody evaluations frequently need to address special clinical issues such as child abuse, sexual abuse, parental alienation syndrome (PAS), and domestic violence as a part of a comprehensive approach. These issues are frequently present during child custody evaluations and require specific approaches to evaluate their effects on children (Grisso, 1990; Halon, 1990).…”