| |
Ariella Goodwine Fisher, MFT, providing child and family forensics as well as psychotherapy services. |
|
Child
Custody
Evaluations |
Child Custody Evaluations (CCEs) are oftentimes ordered by the court or stipulated between parties when there is an ongoing dispute regarding custody or an impasse regarding parenting. The goals of a CCE are to understand the family issues, the parents’ functioning and the ways in which the child(ren) may view and/or experience the family conflict, particular to his or her age and stage of development. The CCE will look at relationships between all of the parties and how the parents and child(ren) are coping with the relationships. The CCE will take into consideration the family’s relationship history, the co-parenting relationship, the past and current functioning of the parties, as well as the current custody plan.
A typical CCE will include several interviews with each of the parents, as well as interviews with the child(ren), home visits to each of the parents' homes, as well as a review of pertinent court records, contact with collateral people that may be beneficial to gaining a better understanding of the parents and child(ren) and, at times, psychological testing .
After all interviews, visits and information gathering has been completed, I will produce a comprehensive report detailing the information obtained throughout the evaluative process. The issues in dispute will be reviewed, and a recommendation of what may be beneficial to the child(ren) and the family will be detailed in the final report and provided to the courts.
|
|
