Please make sure to bring with you any and all documentation to help increase perspective and understanding of the case. Examples may include Court Orders, PFA, criminal dockets, school records, mental health information, and correspondence between parties. When providing documentation, please offer only copies for I need to retain the documents for the file. Additionally, please note that such documentation may be offered throughout any stage of the evaluation process. In addition to documentation, payment is due at the outset of the evaluation.
Each evaluation requires extensive investigation. How many meetings will be requested depends upon the case and circumstances. More likely than not, in custody cases, each party will be asked to attend a minimum of four meetings, each focused upon a particular theme or topic. In at least one of the meetings, I will interview the party and child(ren) in interaction and from which, develop opinions about the nature of the bond, parenting, and children’s level of functioning/needs. When scheduling an interaction, I routinely challenge both parties to cooperate as not all parties have custody during when I schedule the appointments.
Each party will be informed about the other party’s concerns and perspective and given an opportunity to offer additional input and/or rebuttal. Note that I consider all information provided whether in writing or directly obtained through interview.
Preparing for the interaction is an important step. While I am not able to directly guide parties about what and how to share information with the children, I am considering to what extent the children are informed about the process, Court’s involvement, and party’s level of conflict. Depending upon the age of the child, parties may be challenged to support, play with, and/or interact with the child while otherwise, observed. With cases in which there are older children, I instead facilitate family interaction via interview and invite the children for an interview as well. To such interactions, parties may bring with activities, games, care supplies, and sustenance as determined to be necessary and appropriate but with the understanding that food is not permitted within the office itself, only the waiting room.
