Parenting Evaluations for the Court (Perspectives in Law & Psychology, Vol. 18)

The Purpose Of This Book Is To Lay The Foundation For Solid Conceptual And Methodological Approaches For Mental Health Professionals In Offering Effective Responses To Legal Standards And To The Needs Of Individuals Regarding Care And Protection Issues. Although Termination Of Parental Rights Cases Are The Predominant Focus Of The Book, Attention Is Also Given To Consultation And Evaluations For Service Planning Purposes, The Impact Of Maltreatment On Children, Diagnostic And Treatment Planning, Issues Of Family Process, Amenability To Treatment, Potential Family Reunification, And Post-termination Pre-adoption Questions.--book Jacket. Legal And Regulatory Issues In Care And Protection Cases -- A Prototype Of Current Child Protective Service System Statutes And Regulations -- Requests For Forensic Assessment -- The Context Within Which Evaluation Requests Are Made -- The Referral Process -- Are Care And Protection Evaluations Forensic? -- Individual Responses To Cases -- Ethics In Evaluation Practice -- Ethical Standards And Guidelines For Practice -- Who Is The Client? -- Confidentiality And Privilege -- Informed Consent -- Maintaining Records -- Professional Responsibility -- Training And Specialized Competence -- Multimodal Assessment -- The Utility Of Forensic Assessment In Care And Protection Cases -- The Benefit Of Evaluations -- The Impact And Consequences Of Expert Opinions In Care And Protection Matters -- Parental Rights, Children's Rights, And State Intervention -- Constitutional Issues, State Statutes, And Child Protective Service Regulations -- Family Privacy -- Child Welfare And Safety -- Child Abuse Reporting Requirements -- Screening And Investigating Parenting Breaches -- Examples Of Termination Criteria In State Statutes -- Maltreatment Definitions And The Breadth Of State Intervention -- Definitions Of Child Maltreatment -- The Psycholegal Nexus: Legal And Clinical Definitions Of Maltreatment -- Limitations In The Law's Capacity To Monitor Family Relationships -- Minimal Parenting Competence And Good Enough Parents -- Recent Developments In Child Protective Service Regulations -- Fast Track Legislation. Lois Oberlander Condie. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. In recent decades, courts have turned increasingly to mental health professionals to assist them in evaluating the many factors that are relevant to laws concerning the care and protection of children and termination of parental rights. At the same time, the legal system has challenged the role of experts by setting high admissibility standards for scientific integrity and objectivity in forensic consultation and assessment practice. The purpose of this book is to lay the foundation for solid conceptual and methodological approaches for mental health professionals in offering effective responses to legal standards and to the needs of individuals regarding care and protection issues. Although termination of parental rights cases are the predominant focus of the book, attention also is given to consultation and evaluations for service planning purposes, the impact of maltreatment on children, diagnostic and treatment planning, issues of family process, amenability to treatment, potential family reunification, and post-termination pre-adoption questions. Offering ways to integrate theory and research into practice, this volume provides conceptual models for consultation and assessment that make it relevant for a number of related disciplines.