When divorces turn ugly, the children are often caught in the middle. Parents accuse each other of all kinds of things and even use the kids as pawns or bargaining chips. Things can get to the point that it takes a judge ordering a psychological testing child custody hearing to sort out fact from fiction. When this happens, parents have a lot of questions of the psychologists and the lawyers.
Parents want to know the purpose of an evaluation. When a divorce is acrimonious, a judge will want an outside mental health professional to come in and assess the functionality of parents. Judges need to know if the couple is capable of co-parenting and whether the children in question would be better off with one of the parents. Judges need answers to questions about whether the children will be safe with one or both parents.
Parents want to know how much weight the psychological tests carry when judges are ruling on custodial arrangements. The psychologists say these tests are only part of what they look at during the evaluations. They take things like interviews, observation, teachers, parent-child interaction, and information from others who are close of this family into consideration.
If one of the parents gets an unfavorable evaluation, they want to know what comes next. The lawyers explain that they contact the psychologist to discuss the findings prior to the filing of the report. They want to know in advance whether the news is good or bad. When it's not favorable, the lawyer only has a couple of options. An new expert may be requested. The judge is likely to this down though, because courts do not like children being evaluated multiple times.
When an evaluation shows that the parents, while not perfect, are not eminent threats to their kids, parents want to know if a compromise can be worked out. Psychologists take the position that family evaluations take months to complete and are comprehensive. If they find something outside their expertise, they contact another expert who has expertise in that particular area. The report doesn't change.
Couples ask what happens when both sides hire their own evaluators. The psychologists and lawyers say this is not an unusual situation. In most cases, the two psychologists come up with approximately the same conclusions. Rarely does one side extol the virtues of one parent over the other.
A parent may want to know if the children can be forced to spend time with the alienated parent. The answer to this question is difficult because most judges are reluctant to force a child into a relationship with the alienated parent. It usually ends up making matters worse. If it is the other parent keeping the children from the alienated parent, the court may try to put a stop to the negative behavior early in the proceedings.
Divorce is hard, no matter how amicable it may be. It is always in everyone's best interest to work out custody arrangements privately. When the parents are at each other's throats, the courts will step in and take control. This should not be anybody's first choice.
Parents want to know the purpose of an evaluation. When a divorce is acrimonious, a judge will want an outside mental health professional to come in and assess the functionality of parents. Judges need to know if the couple is capable of co-parenting and whether the children in question would be better off with one of the parents. Judges need answers to questions about whether the children will be safe with one or both parents.
Parents want to know how much weight the psychological tests carry when judges are ruling on custodial arrangements. The psychologists say these tests are only part of what they look at during the evaluations. They take things like interviews, observation, teachers, parent-child interaction, and information from others who are close of this family into consideration.
If one of the parents gets an unfavorable evaluation, they want to know what comes next. The lawyers explain that they contact the psychologist to discuss the findings prior to the filing of the report. They want to know in advance whether the news is good or bad. When it's not favorable, the lawyer only has a couple of options. An new expert may be requested. The judge is likely to this down though, because courts do not like children being evaluated multiple times.
When an evaluation shows that the parents, while not perfect, are not eminent threats to their kids, parents want to know if a compromise can be worked out. Psychologists take the position that family evaluations take months to complete and are comprehensive. If they find something outside their expertise, they contact another expert who has expertise in that particular area. The report doesn't change.
Couples ask what happens when both sides hire their own evaluators. The psychologists and lawyers say this is not an unusual situation. In most cases, the two psychologists come up with approximately the same conclusions. Rarely does one side extol the virtues of one parent over the other.
A parent may want to know if the children can be forced to spend time with the alienated parent. The answer to this question is difficult because most judges are reluctant to force a child into a relationship with the alienated parent. It usually ends up making matters worse. If it is the other parent keeping the children from the alienated parent, the court may try to put a stop to the negative behavior early in the proceedings.
Divorce is hard, no matter how amicable it may be. It is always in everyone's best interest to work out custody arrangements privately. When the parents are at each other's throats, the courts will step in and take control. This should not be anybody's first choice.
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