This book presents the latest data-based approaches to understanding and assessing relevant child, parent and family factors in child custody evaluation.

Author Jonathan W. Gould compiles the literature on child custody evaluation into a coherent, logically integrated format that can be applied directly to practice. This empirically based book represents state-of-the-art forensic techniques in the rapidly changing field of child custody evaluation. The author questions whether this minority comprises a unique population that requires separate, uniquely developed intervention protocols.

It also includes ethical standards and guidelines for child custody evaluations from various national, state, and local organizations. Sensible, lucid, and insightful, this book is an important contribution to our understanding of how child custody evaluations are conducted and an excellent resource for psychologists, evaluators, social workers, family court and private mediators, judges, attorneys, and graduate students.

When conducting parenting plan evaluations, mental health professionals need to be aware of a myriad of different factors. More so than in any other form of forensic evaluation, they must have an understanding of the most current findings in developmental research, behavioral psychology, attachment theory, and legal issues to substantiate their opinions. With a number of publications on child custody available, there is an essential need for a text focused on translating the research associated with the most important topics within the family court. This book addresses this gap in the literature by presenting an organized and in-depth analysis of the current research and offering specific recommendations for applying these findings to the evaluation process. Written by experts in the child custody arena, chapters cover issues associated with the most important and complex issues that arise in family court, such as attachment and overnight timesharing with very young children, dynamics between divorced parents and children's potential for resiliency, co-parenting children with chronic medical conditions and developmental disorders, domestic violence during separation and divorce, gay and lesbian co-parents, and relocation, among others. The scientific information provided in these chapters assists forensic mental health professionals to proffer empirically-based opinions, conclusions and recommendations. Parenting Plan Evaluations is a must-read for legal practitioners, family law judges and attorneys, and other professionals seeking to understand more about the science behind child custody evaluations.

Covering the mental health expert′s many roles as therapist, mediator, evaluator, consultant to attorneys, expert witness, and more, Philip M. Stahl′s Conducting Child Custody Evaluations: From Basic to Complex Issues addresses key topics such as the best interests of the child, custody and time share, divorce and its impact on children, and children′s developmental needs. From tackling the terror of testifying to critiquing your own child custody evaluations and avoiding bias inherent in this work, this practical and easy-to-read book offers comprehensive coverage vital to practitioners in this field.

It addresses test selection issues, provides insightful discussions of how to confront confirmatory biases and avoid the distortion of test findings, and takes an in-depth look at the MMPI-2 and Rorschach tests. Psychological Testing in Child Custody Evaluations concludes with a point-counterpoint discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the Ackerman-Schoendorf Scales for Parent Evaluation of Custody (ASPECT) between creator Marc J.

Moving beyond the narrow clinical perspective sometimes applied to viewing the emotional and developmental risks to battered children, this book, offers a view that takes into account the complex ways in which a batterer's abusive and controlling behaviors are woven into the fabric of daily life. This book is a guide for therapists, child protective workers, family and juvenile court personnel, and other human service providers in addressing the complex impact that batterers -- specifically, male batterers of a domestic partner when there are children in the household -- have on family functioning.

Divorcing, divorced, or just separated? Worried about screwing up your children? Looking for information on how to protect your children from the negative emotional aftereffects of divorce? Then this is the book for you. Using satire as a tool, Divorce: The Art of Screwing Up Your Children will entertain you while educating you on the complex emotional world of children dealing with parents who are divorcing or divorced. Ultimately this book teaches parents the behaviors to avoid, minimizing the adverse effects of divorce on their children. Some of the topics covered in the book include: Parental Conflict, Telling Your Children You Are Divorcing, Blaming Your Spouse, Blaming the Children, Hiring an Attorney, Choosing a Type of Divorce, Parenting Time, Custody, Visitation, and Holidays, Final Decision-Making, Mental Illness, Child Custody Evaluations, Co-Parenting, Transitions, Rules and Discipline, Relocation, Parental Alienation, Abandonment, New Relationships, Step-Parenting, Family Conflict, Litigation, Child Development, Alcohol and Drug Abuse, Children's Activities, and many other topics. This is a book you will read again and again just to make sure you are not subjecting your children to added stress and strain from any unintended, inappropriate post-divorce parental behavior. Family attorneys and mental health professionals will also find Divorce: The Art of Screwing Up Your Children a valuable resource for their professional education and a handy tool to give to clients and patients. Here is what experts in the field are saying about Divorce: The Art of Screwing Up Your Children: "Divorce: The Art of Screwing Up Your Children is a delightful tongue-in-cheek reprimand to parents who lose sight of their children's welfare while waging war with an ex. But it is more than that. In addition to learning how to screw up your kids, Dr. Drutman shows parents how to do things right. For parents who seem blind to the harm they inflict on their children, this book delivers a needed blast of awareness with enough humor to help the medicine go down." Dr. Richard A. Warshak, author of Divorce Poison: How To Protect Your Family From Bad-mouthing and Brainwashing.Clinical Professor, UT Southwestern Medical Center "A must read for parents and attorneys who want to learn what to do, or not do to prevent emotional harm to children before, during, and after their parents' divorce." James E. Holmes, Esq., Family Law Attorney "Combining practical knowledge with humor and satire, Dr. Drutman has drawn on his many years working with divorcing families to produce an important resource that is approachable, readable and extremely valuable. A must read for anyone with children who is contemplating or involved in a divorce." Kevin J. Richards, Ph.D., ABPPBoard Certified Forensic Psychologist "Dr. Drutman has provided a comprehensive list of actions too often taken by divorcing parents that dramatically reduce the likelihood that their children will make healthy adjustments. In each section, Dr. Drutman concisely explains the ways in which the actions that have been described take their toll on the children." David A. Martindale, Ph.D. ABPP (Forensic)Diplomate, American Board of Professional PsychologyPractice limited to forensic psychological consultingCo-Author of The Art and Science of Child Custody Evaluations

"Children's rights": the phrase has been a legal battle cry for twenty-five years. But as this provocative book by a nationally renowned expert on children's legal standing argues, it is neither possible nor desirable to isolate children from the interests of their parents, or those of society as a whole. From foster care to adoption to visitation rights and beyond, Martin Guggenheim offers a trenchant analysis of the most significant debates in the children's rights movement, particularly those that treat children's interests as antagonistic to those of their parents. Guggenheim argues that "children's rights" can serve as a screen for the interests of adults, who may have more to gain than the children for whom they claim to speak. More important, this book suggests that children's interests are not the only ones or the primary ones to which adults should attend, and that a "best interests of the child" standard often fails as a meaningful test for determining how best to decide disputes about children.