Custody Evaluations

(+852) 2869-1962 10^th floor, The Plaza, 21 D'Aguilar Street, Central, Hong Kong

How we can help

Parenting is predominantly seen as a task involved with the socialization of children, within an ecological framework that considers these children in relation to their family, neighborhood, the larger social structure and economic, political and cultural environment.

When the divorcing parties cannot agree on the terms of child custody, the court will call for a report to include recommendations on custody. Most situations benefit more from a custody evaluation, which may also include a psychological evaluation.

A full custody evaluation will allow the examiner to evaluate the children involved, assess the quality of the relationship between each parent and each child, and gather objective evidence concerning the status of each parent’s parenting skills and their general psychological health. More importantly, this evaluation process will accurately identify the parent’s capacity to satisfy the needs of the child within their ecological framework.

The data driven assessment process will then enable us to produce a report with recommendations regarding custody and visitation that supports the child’s best interest. Moreover, we will also include recommendations that specifically address the parenting concerns raised by each parent. As such, testing tools and interview methods will be chosen at the discretion of clinicians in order to best suit that purpose.

We also support legal teams and court proceedings with various projects – including, but not limited to:

Psychological Assessments
Capacity Assessments
Competency Evaluations
Sexual Harrassment
Personal Injury Litigation
Employment Law
Discrimination disputes

Process

THE EVALUATION

A custody evaluation is a process that, through careful research and interviews, produces a report of expert recommendations for custody and visitation of children whose whose parents are divorcing. The typical custody evaluation consists of the following steps in order to understand the full family dynamic:

Two or three interviews with each parent
Two or three interviews with each child
Observation of parental interaction with each child in the office and potentially at home
Psychological testing. Most psychometric measures tend to fall within the following categories: cognitive functioning tests, objective personality tests, projective personality tests, and parenting assessment tests. A comprehensive evaluation will contain several tests from numerous categories.
Review of important court papers
Interviews with people like teachers, pediatricians and other care providers as necessary

THE REPORT

Once the evaluation process is complete, the evaluator will issue a report. Most evaluators will specifically address concerns raised by each parent in making recommendations.

The final custody and visitation recommendation is based on factors such as:

The quality of each parent’s relationship to each child
The relationship between the parents and their ability or willingness to support their children’s ongoing relationships with the other parent
The parenting skills and capacity of each parent
Each parent’s psychological health, including any drug or alcohol abuse
The children’s psychological health
Any evidence of abuse or violence

HELPFUL GUIDELINES

Custody evaluations can be a stressful process for parents. Consider these helpful guidelines to make the process as manageable as possible:

Understand the evaluator’s role. The evaluator is an independent and impartial expert whose whose job is to objectively assess what is best for your children. They are not your therapist or advocate, nor will they take a “side”. Their only role is to advise what arrangement supports the safety and well being of your children.

It’s okay to be emotional. Your evaluator will understand. But avoid losing control, so much that you can not answer questions and express yourself clearly. If you find yourself unable to continue, take a moment to collect yourself, and focus again on the task at hand.

Have your documents in order. You may need to provide the names and contact information for additional people important to the evaluation process, including teachers, physicians and other caregivers. School reports and other documents may be requested as well.

You will be asked a lot of questions. This is normal. If you are confused about a question, ask for clarification. If necessary, take your time to answer.

We encourage proactive parenting. If you have any questions about your child’s development, feel free to contact us.

Your Concerns

WHEN SHOULD I ORDER A PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT?

Only in rare instances should a psychological assessment alone be ordered. One such instance may be if one party believes another is seriously psychologically impaired.

WHAT SHOULD I TELL TO THE EXAMINER?

Some parents are uncertain about which problems should be reported to the examiner — a general guideline is to distinguish between marital problems and parenting issues, and to focus on the latter. However, most divorcing parents have an equal number of complaints regarding the parenting capacity of the other party. In such cases, a psychological evaluation may not directly address the ultimate issue of custody and visitation.

HOW LONG DOES THE PROCESS TAKE?

It varies depending on the needs of the client, however, we usually spend approximately 10-12 hours with each parent and 6 hours with each child. It is also necessary to interview a number of collateral informants (i.e. nominated teachers, family friends, family members, medical progressionals, etc.) and conduct at least 2 home visits to gather supporting evidence. In total, a full custody evaluation for a family of 3 is comprised of approximately 30-35 hours.