| A Comprehensive Guide to Child Custody Evaluations: Mental Health and Legal Perspectives 2008 Edition Contributor(s): Rohrbaugh, Joanna Bunker (Author) |
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ISBN: 0387718931 ISBN-13: 9780387718934 Publisher: Springer OUR PRICE: $104.49 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: December 2007 Annotation: Whether assessing general family functioning or specific areas of conflict, professionals ordering, conducting, or reviewing child custody evaluations require sound knowledge of three interrelated fields: up-todate legal issues, psychological findings, and forensic procedures. A Comprehensive Guide to Child Custody Evaluations covers these three essential areas to walk readers through the evaluation process clearly and concisely. This unique interdisciplinary book emphasizes professional ethics, children's psychological well-being, and clear communication among all parties as keys to resolving disputes with efficiency and thoroughness, and minimizing the chances of children and their families getting lost in red tape. Among the Guide's features: ? Legal standards for custody evaluations and recommendations. ? Procedures for conducting custody evaluations, with the latest data on psychological testing, interviewing children, and home observations. ? Guidelines for writing: evaluation reports, orders for evaluations, parenting plans. ? Legal and ethical standards for critiquing evaluation reports. ? Current legal and research-based information on special issues, including alternative family arrangements, medical problems, child sexual abuse, estrangement, and parental abduction. ? Reference and resource sections provide additional support. ? Companion CD includes dozens of forms, checklists, letters, and other documents ready to download, customize, and print. The Guide's interdisciplinary approach will be of invaluable aid to forensic mental health professionals in conducting evaluations and communicating results, family and probate judges in ordering and assessing custodyevaluations, and family attorneys in deciding how to approach various aspects of the family situation, whether to request a custody evaluation, and how to proceed after the custody evaluation is done. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Psychology | Applied Psychology - Psychology | Psychotherapy - Counseling |
| Dewey: 346.730 |
| LCCN: 2007929501 |
| Physical Information: 1.8" H x 6.3" W x 9.3" (2.60 lbs) 702 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: n order to assist families embroiled in child custody disputes, Ithe courts order thousands of child custody evaluations each year. Some of these evaluations are brief, problem-focused asse- ments aimed at quickly resolving a specific area of dispute. Other evaluations are more comprehensive, covering all aspects of family functioning in complex cases. The process of ordering, conducting, or assessing either type of child custody evaluation requires a clear understanding of how legal and psychological issues are int- twined in each case. This book is designed to meet this need for a comprehensive guide that combines legal information and forensic procedures with the social science research that must be the basis for all custody recommendations and decisions. The book should be helpful to three separate but related groups of experienced professionals: (a) family and probate judges, (b) family practice attorneys, and (c) forensic mental health professionals. Before they can order a custody evaluation and use the inf- mation it provides, judges must have a clear understanding of how to integrate clinical information about each family with the related social science research. This book will also enable judges to assess each custody report in terms of (a) the professional and legal gui- lines for conducting custody evaluations, and (b) research-based criteria in each area of family functioning. The text and CD also offer examples of how best to write orders for custody evaluations, and detailed parenting plans that address the issues in each family. |