The Custody Evaluation Handbook: Research Based Solutions & Applications

by Bricklin,Barry

• ISBN13: 9780876307755
• ISBN10: 0876307756
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1995-09-01
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Joint custody. Same?sex custody. Young children with the mother. Which is the best arrangement? Unfortunately, for those who seek a trustworthy solution, research has proven that there is no single best arrangement for all children. This timely volume, however, does offer a practical and realisic methodology with which to confront the challenging and often confusing issues facing the custody evaluator. THe only book of its kind, The Custody Evaluation Handbook offers a strikingly helpful model for evaluating and assigning weight to the mountains of disparate information accumulated during a custody suit. Written by an unparalleled expert in the field of custody evaluation, the book eschews what the author calls the "negative incident model" in which each parent responds to the custody process by compiling a long list of grievances against the hated "opponent". It advocates, instead a test?based approach that measures how successful each parent actually is at the job of parenting. The book describes numeroustests and tools for eliciting reliable information from both children and parents. With an eye to learning the actual impact a parent has on a child rather than what a given parent may or may not be doing, the book emphasizes obtaining measurements from the involved child. Parent tests are designed to reflect the effectiveness with which a parent responds to typical childcare situations, and the degree to which a parent truly knows ? and can satisfy the needs of ? a particular child. The volume also sets forth concepts derived from extensive research that are particularly helpful in understanding parent?child interactions, and provides a specific system of nonadversary communication strategies that can be used and modeled in all interchanges with evaluation participants, and in the wording of all written reports. Readers will also welcome the numerous suggestions from evaluators all over the country on specific custody dilemmas they have faced. The book is based on many years' meticulous research and isinformed by a number of conceptual approaches that include: The proven premise that whatever certain parents intend to communicate is often not what their children are, in fact, perceiving and reacting to The "Utilization Model" of Milton E. Erikson The Thomas, Chess, and Birch "goodness?of?fit" model of parent?child interaction Bandler and Grinders' assertion that the meaning of a communication is the response it elicits, regardless of the intentions of the sender Clearly, spelling out the targets of a truly comprehensive and reliable evaluation, The Custody Evaluation Handbook will be an invaluable handbook for custody evaluators and marriage and family therapists, as well as other involved mental health professionals.

Table of Contents

About the Authors	ix
Foundations: Leaps, Halos, and Bitterness	xi
Difficulties with Traditional Tests and Tools	xii
Aggregating Information in the Absence of Weighting Criteria	xiv
Adversarial Bitterness	xviii
An Apology to Mark Twain	xix
A Word on the Statistics Employed	xxi
Loving the Courtroom	1	(23)
Science in Court	2	(3)
The Mental Health Professional in Court	5	(6)
The Mental Health Professional in Custody Evaluations	11	(9)
Suggested Solutions for Custody Evaluation Practice Dilemmas	20	(4)
Postdivorce Issues: Relevant Research	24	(30)
Gail Elliot
Effects of Divorce on Children	26	(7)
Age/Development Status	33	(2)
Sex or Gender Effects	35	(3)
Interparental Conflict	38	(2)
Parent Adjustment	40	(5)
Custody Dispositions	45	(2)
Resilience (Favorable Outcomes)	47	(1)
Preexisting Conditions (Prospective Studies)	48	(2)
Methodological and Conceptual Issues	50	(4)
Congruent Communications: The Vital Roles of Symbol Systems and Information-Processing Strategies	54	(20)
What Are Special Targets for the Custody Evaluator?	54	(2)
Interviews, Observations, and Traditional Tests	56	(6)
Marital Communication	62	(1)
Symbol Systems	63	(2)
Information-Processing Strategies	65	(2)
Critical Conceptual Targets: Measurement Approaches	67	(5)
Summary	72	(2)
Bricklin Perceptual Scales (BPS): Child Perception-of-Parents Series	74	(6)
Custody Decision-Making: Vital Test Properties	74	(3)
An Overview of the BPS	77	(1)
The BPS Groupings: Competency, Supportiveness, Consistency, and Possession of Admirable Traits	78	(1)
BPS Data and the Selection of a Primary-Caretaking Parent (PCP)	79	(1)
The Perception-of-Relationships Test (PORT)	80	(8)
An Overview of the PORT	80	(1)
A Drawing-Based Projective Test	81	(2)
The Detection of Physical and Sexual Abuse with the PORT	83	(3)
Development of the PORT and Validation	86	(2)
The Parent Awareness Skills Survey (PASS)	88	(4)
Additional Uses for the PASS	91	(1)
The Parent Perception of Child Profile (PPCP)	92	(4)
Getting Accurate Information	96	(18)
Confusing Sources of Influence in a Custody Evaluation	100	(5)
The Not-Based-on-Actual-Interaction Scenarios: Alienation Strategies	105	(5)
Maximizing Accurate Data	110	(2)
The Special Problem of Collateral-Source Data	112	(2)
Areas of Assessment	114	(27)
Targets for Assessment	117	(14)
Gathering the Data	131	(8)
Parent-Child Dyads or Family ``Systems''?	139	(2)
Creating a Custody Plan: Aggregating and Weighting the Variables (with Michael H. Halbert)	141	(21)
Choosing a PCP: A Decision-Tree Model Using BPS and PORT (or Child-Derived) Data	143	(1)
The Contribution of Formal Models	144	(3)
Model Number One: Mainly Intuition	147	(1)
Model Number Two: Weighted Averages	148	(5)
Model Number Three: Modified Bayesian	153	(6)
Our Suggestions in Actual Use	159	(1)
The Sequence of Steps in Setting Up and Conducting a Comprehensive Custody Evaluation	160	(2)
Communicating the Results of a Custody Evaluation	162	(31)
Selected Goals of a Custody Evaluation	163	(2)
Nonadversarial Communication	165	(4)
Evaluation, Living in the Wild, the Fight-Flight Response, and the Science and Skills of No-End-Point Negotiation	169	(7)
The Custody Evaluation Report	176	(5)
An Outline for a Comprehensive Custody Evaluation	181	(12)
Validity and Reliability Issues	193	(6)
Dilemmas in Child Custody Evaluations	199	(54)
How Important are Grandparents?	199	(2)
Why Not Mediation Instead of Evaluation?	201	(1)
Allegations of Sexual Abuse	202	(12)
The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy Nightmare	214	(1)
After the Evaluation: Monitoring Plans and Resource Facilitations	215	(2)
When Are Data Stale?	217	(1)
Does Child-Derived Data Change According to Who Brings the Child to the Evaluation?	218	(1)
Who Has the Right to Seek an Evaluation, How Much Data Does One Need, and What Kind of Proof of Accuracy Does One Need in a Courtroom?	219	(4)
Cutting Costs in Custody Evaluations	223	(1)
Walking the Line with Attorneys	224	(3)
Why Not Just Ask the Children?	227	(1)
Testifying in Court	228	(5)
Test Security Versus Due Process	233	(3)
Splitting Up Siblings	236	(3)
Saving Time and Aggravation	239	(2)
Homosexuality in Custody Dispute Resolution	241	(1)
The Nitty-Gritty Details of a Custody Plan	242	(2)
What Should the Custody Evaluator Bring to the Courtroom?	244	(1)
What About Hostile Judges?	245	(1)
How Does One Match Up Parents and Children Without Tests?	246	(3)
Mixed Messages from the Unconscious Mind	249	(1)
Custody Evaluations: A Peek into the Future	249	(4)
References	253	(12)
Name Index	265	(4)
Subject Index	269