As a child clinical psychologist who specializes in child-custody evaluation, I was deeply disturbed by Bonnie Miller Rubin’s article “Who loves best” (Perspective, April 12). Although there are mental-health practitioners who are “whores of the court” and will testify for whoever is writing the check, the majority of child-custody evaluators are simply attempting to do an extremely difficult job, in the best interest of the children.
Certainly consumers need to do their homework in choosing a custody evaluator:
– Does the practitioner belong to an appropriate professional organization–e.g., the Association for Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC)?
– Does the evaluator have specialized training in child-custody evaluation? (Training is readily available through organizations such as AFCC.)
– Does the professional have a history of always testifying on behalf of the attorney(s) who hired him or her? (These tend to be the evaluators who can be bought.)
– Does the evaluator have a history of always testifying on behalf of one gender? (Often these are individuals who have personal biases or counter-transference issues.)
– Has the evaluator worked as a conciliator for one or more court systems? (Working for the court provides experience, understanding of the law and an opportunity for judges and attorneys to assess the quality of the individual’s work before he or she enters the private practice arena.)
– Has the professional completed at least 100 prior child custody evaluations? (Initially, evaluations should be completed under the auspices of a senior professional.)
– Does the evaluator routinely observe the child interacting with each parent as part of his or her normal evaluation? (This is essential to ascertain how each parent interacts with the children and how the child reacts to each parent.)
– Does the evaluator interview and/or test both the parents and the children?
