Choosing a professional in child custody cases

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=160 BGCOLOR="#333333" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="03cdedc2ddualp.png"> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Dr. Wade Silverman, Ph.D"><U><B>Dr. Wade Silverman, Ph.D</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id8.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Us"><U><B>Contact Us</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id147.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="FAQs"><U><B>FAQs</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id16.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="About Dr. Silverman"><U><B>About Dr. Silverman</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id146.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Great links"><U><B>Great links</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Mind Reader© archive"><U><B>The Mind Reader© archive</B></U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="03d64643.png"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#666633" FACE="Times New Roman" ><B>Dr. Wade Silverman, Ph.D</B></FONT>    |     <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000BF" FACE="Times New Roman" ><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Dr. Wade Silverman, Ph.D"><U>home</U></A></FONT></div> <div>                                                   </div> <div> Choosing a professional in child custody cases</div> <bR> <div> What characteristics do lawyers think are important in choosing who will work with them in child custody cases? According to a survey of seventy-four attorneys conducted by Felner and Terre (1987) the top five characteristics of mental health professionals included (a) someone who is willing to testify in court; (b) someone already working with the family; (c) someone who testifies well in deposition and in court; (d) someone who has been helpful in previous cases; and (e) someone whose fee your client can afford. You will note that none of these characteristics relate to the level of expertise of the mental health professional. Indeed, one of the choices, someone already working with the family, is problematic and may even be in violation of psychologists' ethical principles.</div> <div> It is clear from this survey that this group of lawyers were not making decisions based upon the most important characteristic in choosing their mental health experts: objectivity. As an example, if the client is willing to spend significant resources obtaining custody, why then would fee considerations of the expert be at issue unless it deviates significantly from that which was acceptable in the community. Also, why would a lawyer choose someone already working with the family when it would raise obvious questions concerning the expert's objectivity? As an example, if the therapist is treating one of the children or the family how could he or she ever again obtain the cooperation of both parents in further treatment either of the family or the child? How can the act of testifying against one of the members of the family be seen as anything else other than betrayal? </div> <bR> <div> As stated above, your most important consideration in choosing an expert is to obtain a professional who can be objective. Then, you should consider a professional who is both an excellent observer and an excellent diagnostician. Then, it is important to consider such factors as whether the professional testifies well, and whether he or she can write an articulate and well-considered report.</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>