Expanding Forensically Informed Evaluations and Therapeutic Interventions in Family Court

Abstract

Private Practice Scottsdale, ArizonaAs the field of forensic family law has become more empirical and in need of novel behavioral health services, it has become necessary to broaden the duties of practitioners, to clarify forensic roles, and to develop more comprehensive court orders. This article introduces the application of Forensically Informed Evaluations and Therapeutic Interventions in family court; a constellation of evaluations and interventions developed to better meet the needs of children and families during and after dissolution or reconstitution. These family court appointments also meet the growing demands of the court and contribute to the trend toward discriminative application of empirically informed behavioral health services in forensic family law. FORENSICALLY INFORMED EVALUATIONS AND THERAPEUTIC INTERVENTIONS IN FAMILY COURTThe application of psychology to forensic family law has grown so rapidly that new levels of professional practice are needed. More advanced knowledge, a better understanding of the needs of the court, and more discriminatory use of behavioral health evaluations and interventions are required. As child custody cases and other family-related issues have become more complex, the field of psychology has not advanced in its ability to tailor services to the changing needs of the family law system. Comprehensive child custody evaluations, alternative dispute resolution, and mediation have appropriately met the needs of some family law cases, but not all. Cases involving issues such as family reconstitution, modification, relocation, infant overnight access, paternity, domestic violence, child abuse allegations, and normal postdivorce concerns require more multifaceted, empirically informed services. THE CURRENT STATE OF AFFAIRSEach year, the family court refers thousands of family law cases to behavioral health professionals for assessment and intervention. The most common referrals are those for comprehensive child custody evaluations that involve assessment of family members in order to assist the judge in making child custody and parenting-time decisions.We present this article as a step toward a greater integration between the judiciary and forensic psychologists. We hope that you will consider implementing that which you find helpful and contact us with additional suggestions. The original version of this article was a bench book which included sample court orders, reading, and website resources. The article is an expansion of Kenney & Vigil (1996).

When a Child Rejects a Parent: Tailoring the Intervention to Fit the Problem

“…This family‐focused intervention differs from “re‐unification counseling,” (Markan & Weinstock, 2005), in that the goals are broader than a restoration of the child's relationship with the rejected parent. These broader treatment goals include understanding and addressing how the stress of the parental separation and divorce process have affected the child; teaching the child coping strategies; changing the child's distorted, “good/bad” views and polarized feelings towards both parents into more realistic ones; and restoring appropriate co‐parental and parent–child roles in the family.…”

Child Custody Evaluations: Help or Hindrance?

“…In addition to some of the variations and components of the Sieve Model presented herein, other alternatives include dispute assessment, the Child Development Evaluation, and the Child Forensic Interview (Markan & Weinstock, 2005).…”

Sherlock Holmes and the Case of Resist/Refuse Dynamics: Confirmatory Bias and Abductive Inference in Child Custody Evaluations

“…The value of carefully crafted orders for child custody evaluations is well documented (e.g., Markan & Weinstock, ), but little attention has been paid to how these orders should be worded. In particular, the balance between open‐ended vagueness (e.g., “what are the best interests of this child?”) and far too narrow questions that risk implanting bias (“Is this mother alienating?”) may seem impossible to find.…”