Clinician's Guide to Child Custody Evaluations

Book excerpt: "The Clinician's Guide to Child Custody Evaluations, Third Edition is written by one of the leaders in the field. it is as essential to the subject of child custody as the stethoscope is to medicine. This edition, an update of a classic, is a must-read for everyone from the novice to the expert's expert." - Leslie M. Drozd, PhD, Editor, Journal of Child Custody A practical and comprehensive guide for conducting child custody evaluations. Clinician's Guide to Child Custody Evaluations addresses the entire custody evaluation process from beginning to end. This New Third Edition reflects the abundant recent research in this area, including new evaluating and testing findings and new ethical guidelines from the APA. This edition also features fully up-to-date coverage of important legal decisions affecting child custody. With many chapters completely revised and rewritten, the third Edition covers: * Roles the mental health Practitioner can play and operate within the legal arena * What encompasses a custody evaluation * Ethical considerations and responsibilities involved in custody disputes * How to interview, make behavioral observations, and collect collateral information * Standards, applicability,and administration of tests * Specialized child custody instruments such as the Ackerman-Schoendorf Scales for Parent Evaluation of Custody (ASPECT) * How divorce affect families * Evaluating parents' behavior * How to prepare for the courtroom process * Maltreatment, including neglect, abuse, and domestic violence * Placement schedules * How to write reports, draw conclusions, and render opinions Each chapter ends with critical issues for the practitioner to consider. The accessible reference format provides a quick review of relevant discussions in the text. In addition, this book includes convenient guides to relevant legal terms, documents forms, APA guidelines, and codes of conduct. Based not only on current research but also on the author's considerable experience with thousands of evaluations, Clinician's Guide to Child Custody Evaluations is the definitive guide to this field for students and practitioners.