Child Custody Evaluation

Child Custody Evaluation Each year about 1.2 million marriages end in divorce, and many divorcing couples have children (Patel&Jones, 2008). In the year 2006 more than 1.1 million children were living with a parent who was divorced or separated. Though most parents face the challenges associated with divorce or separation in a healthy and successful manner without high-conflict interactions. However, according to Patel and Jones about 10% of divorce cases involving children disagreement on custody and visitation arrangements leads to litigation(2008). In these cases, it is often left to the court to make decisions about custody, and several custody cases are referred to court-appointed mental health experts during the process. Patel and Jones state that mental health counselors possess the knowledge and skills to be effective mental health evaluators in child custody disputes. However, these counselors must be able familiar with guiding principles and standards that are in the area they are in. Thus, a counselor must not only know the standards of the counseling profession American Mental Health Counseling Associate and American Counseling Association but also standards and principles specific to evaluations in child custody cases (2008). The reason for a custody evaluation is to make a decision that is in the best interest of the child/children. A custody evaluation may also be ordered when there is a significant change in circumstances relating to custody of the child, such as the proposed relocation of one parent (Barth, 2011). Mental health evaluations used in child custody cases give family courts a thorough and unbiased assessment about the functionality of a family and the child’s best interests. Most evaluations include recommendations for primary custody of the child as well as visitation rights (Bow & Quinnell, 2004 as cited by Patel & Jones, 2008). Written reports document the evaluator’s findings and recommendations, and evaluators testify