Agenda

This session will provide an introduction to and an overview of parenting plan evaluations, and the specific roles and responsibilities of the evaluators.

This session will outline the parenting plan evaluation process and examine use of collaterals and parent-child observation. Remote interviews, as well as record keeping best practices, will be discussed.

This session will delve into the information gathering process and explore relevant versus irrelevant information. Specific strategies for interviewing children and adults forensically will be reviewed. Differences between diagnoses and assessment of parent functional behaviors and coparenting will be explored.

This session will examine screening for intimate partner violence (IPV) and discuss the impact of IPV on families and the parenting plan evaluation process.

In this session, a multifactorial model for resist refuse dynamics and assessment considerations will be presented.

This session will focus on current research literature on young children, parental mental health, and substance misuse within the context of child custody.

This session will examine ethnic, cultural, and diversity issues that may arise when conducting parenting plan evaluations. Unique considerations related to religious perspectives, ethnic and racial diversity, and same-sex couples, will also be shared.

This session will explore hypothesis testing, articulate the importance of developing multiple hypotheses, and provide instructions on how to do so. Use of decision trees will also be described. The problems associated with heuristics will be explored, along with further explanation of various types of cognitive biases.

This session will explain the place of psychological testing in child custody evaluations, including when and how to use testing. Numerous psychological tests will be described, including objective tests such as the MMPI-3 and STAXI, projective tests such as the R-PAS, parenting tests such as the PAM and CAPI, and child assessments such as BASC. The appropriate use of computer-generated reports will also be reviewed.

This session will focus on sexual, physical, and emotional abuse, and challenges that arise when these issues become part of parenting plan evaluations.

This session will explore challenging issues occasionally encountered in parenting plan evaluations such as relocation and children with special needs.

This session will provide an overview of the components of a report, including an explanation of the importance of providing well-articulated analysis and synthesis. A primer for drafting recommendations that are well-supported and specific will also be shared.