Psychological consultations for family court are unique, because psychologists are ethically required to represent the best interests of the children, whether asked to provide consultation and assessment services by a parent, both parents, an agency (such as DCPP or DYFS), or by the court.
Often, psychologists are asked to provide custody and/or visitation evaluations (now called parenting time evaluations or best interests evaluations), to determine what custody arrangement is best for the children. This may also include an assessment of risk factors relating to potential abuse. Psychologists also provide many other services for family court:
- Psychologists mediate custody and visitation issues between parents;
- Psychologists provide Parent Coordinator services to assist high-conflict families post-divorce;
- Psychologists assess parent-child conflict areas and propose remediation plans;
- Psychologists provide reunification therapy and/or complex family therapy for high conflict families in which one or more of the children is not communicating with or spending time with one parent;
- Psychologists supervise visitation when a parent has an emotional or substance abuse problem;
- Psychologists evaluate the potential risk to a child when a parent has emotional or substance abuse problems;
- Psychologists assess the impact of the grandparent relationship, and determine the appropriateness of grandparent visitation when the parents object;
- Psychologists screen potential foster parents and/or adoptive parents;
- Psychologists complete domestic violence evaluations;
- Psychologists assess the potential impact of termination of parental rights; and
- Psychologists provide psychotherapy and counseling, parent-child family counseling, parenting skills training, therapeutic supervised visitation, anger management, divorce adjustment counseling for children and/or adults, and parental communication skills training to family members as indicated.
For more information, please follow the links on the sidebar menu regarding specific psychological services for family court.