A custody evaluation often has a broad and significant impact in a family’s life as it is reviewed and used by nearly all of the mental health and legal professionals that are involved in the case, especially when a child is rejecting or refusing to see a parent. Custody evaluators may benefit from understanding how to effectively communicate essential information to the family, involved professionals, and court as well as how to structure conclusions and recommendations to have the maximum chance of being meaningfully integrated and carried through in a manner that is maximally beneficial to the family members. Evaluators will be informed about when to be exacting and specific, when to be more general, and when to be directive. Discussion re: when to use standardized recommendations as well as developing case specific, targeted recommended services & interventions. Ample sample materials will be provided for the audience’s review.
Learning Objectives:
- Participants will identify how to describe and explain treatment rationale as well as proposed goals and processes in a custody evaluation.
- Participants will be able to compare how treatment recommendations will or will not be implemented and effectuated when the recommendations are vague vs. highly detailed/specific.
- Participants will be able to analyze custody evaluation recommendations with the provided compact tool to structure recommendations for the maximum potential benefit.