It is an unfortunate fact that when couples divorce, and children are involved, things can get ugly quickly. Accusations may be flung back and forth between the parties until no one actually can separate fact from fiction without the help of professionals. Psychologists and child advocacy lawyers have answers to some of the most common questions couples ask when they are faced with the psychological testing child custody hearings require.
Parents ask why there has to be an evaluation. If the court is hearing conflicting stories about poor parenting, the judge's response is usually to bring in an unbiased third party professional to assess the parent's level of functionality. The judge is trying to discover if the couple can co-parent at all, and if one parent should have sole or primary custodial rights.
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.
A common question involves what happens if a parent receives an unfavorable assessment during this process. Lawyers say they want to talk to the psychologist about the findings, whether good or bad, prior to the writing of the report. If the news is not good, the lawyer has limited options. Another expert can be requested, but judges do not generally like to keep questioning the children in these cases.
Parents want to know if there can be a compromise if neither of the parents is deemed harmful to their kids. Psychologists point out that findings are the result of meticulous information gathering. They include everything in the report that is relevant. When an evaluator runs into a situation that is outside his or her expertise, another professional is called to conduct that portion of an evaluation.
Couples ask what happens when both sides get their own evaluators. Both the lawyers and psychologists say this is something that happens all the time. Most of the time the conclusions reached are pretty much the same. It is fairly rare for psychologists to be biased in favor of the parents who are paying them.
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 never easy for the adults or the children involved. It is always a better idea for the parents to work custodial issues out privately. When they aren't able to do that, they risk losing control to the courts, the lawyers, and the psychologists.
Parents ask why there has to be an evaluation. If the court is hearing conflicting stories about poor parenting, the judge's response is usually to bring in an unbiased third party professional to assess the parent's level of functionality. The judge is trying to discover if the couple can co-parent at all, and if one parent should have sole or primary custodial rights.
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.
A common question involves what happens if a parent receives an unfavorable assessment during this process. Lawyers say they want to talk to the psychologist about the findings, whether good or bad, prior to the writing of the report. If the news is not good, the lawyer has limited options. Another expert can be requested, but judges do not generally like to keep questioning the children in these cases.
Parents want to know if there can be a compromise if neither of the parents is deemed harmful to their kids. Psychologists point out that findings are the result of meticulous information gathering. They include everything in the report that is relevant. When an evaluator runs into a situation that is outside his or her expertise, another professional is called to conduct that portion of an evaluation.
Couples ask what happens when both sides get their own evaluators. Both the lawyers and psychologists say this is something that happens all the time. Most of the time the conclusions reached are pretty much the same. It is fairly rare for psychologists to be biased in favor of the parents who are paying them.
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 never easy for the adults or the children involved. It is always a better idea for the parents to work custodial issues out privately. When they aren't able to do that, they risk losing control to the courts, the lawyers, and the psychologists.
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