Helping a Client Handle a Child Custody Evaluation
| Publication year | 1987 |
| Pages | 1991 |
1987, November, Pg. 1991. Helping a Client Handle a Child Custody Evaluation
A competent custody evaluation is often the cornerstone of a well-planned custody case. Clients and attorneys are therefore justifiably concerned that they come across as favorably as possible in the evaluation. With some help from attorneys, parents can present themselves in the best possible light.
Custody evaluators are charged with the responsibility of making recommendations to the court concerning the best interests of the children with regard to custody and visitation. A professional's reputation and competence is on the line with every evaluation and recommendation. The key ingredients to a successful evaluation are getting all the necessary facts and reporting them accurately.
These are actually two different tasks. An evaluation can fail if the data are 100 percent accurate but lack crucial elements. For example, an evaluation that included the fact that a parent was an extremely committed Boy Scout leader, but failed to include that he had a criminal conviction for sexual abuse of children, is "accurate" but defective for lacking a crucial fact. Conversely, the evaluation can fail if it addresses all of the important issues, but does not address them accurately. For example, an evaluation which says that a parent has no psychological problems when, in fact, that parent is being treated for severe depression is clearly not accurate.
The task of the evaluator then involves finding out what is important for this particular child and accurately ascertaining the facts about those issues. The single best source for both of these tasks is the parent. If the client can be established as an accurate and insightful reporter of the important facts, the client is well on the way toward making the best possible impression in the evaluation.
The client should understand that establishing credibility means telling the good as well as the bad. People involved in custody battles can easily relate good things about themselves and bad things about their spouses. The real test is whether they can also be accurate about their own weaknesses and their spouses' strengths. Clients whose honesty is consistently corroborated by third parties and the evaluator's own observations have accomplished a great deal because the evaluator then will give considerable weight to their perceptions of their children's best interests. Conversely, consistently inaccurate reporters will have little credibility to support their...
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