The child custody evaluation process should involve a rather systematic method of gathering information, formulating a hypothesis, and rendering opinions pertaining to the best interests of the children involved. Unfortunately, not all psychologists or mental health professionals are properly trained or even qualified to conduct these evaluations, yet they continue to perform them and have the potential to cause more damage than good.
If you believe that the results of your family’s social investigation were unfair, biased, or poorly executed, you may want to consider hiring a second forensic psychologist to complete a “work product review“. The role of this second “rebuttal” psychologist is to take a fine tooth comb to the initial psychologist’s report and “raw data” obtained in his or her file. The rebuttal witness’s goal is to highlight any deficits to the Judge and assist your attorney with strong ammunition for cross-examination at the hearing.
The following guidelines are a small sample of things that a rebuttal psychological looks for to ensure a fair evaluation and report:
• Qualification. Is the child custody evaluator qualified to be conducting the social investigation? Are they licensed in the discipline in which they are practicing? Are they trained in child welfare and development? A child custody evaluator must hold at least a masters in a mental health field as well as the highest license level in their state possible. Does the child custody evaluator have specialized knowledge and training in topics related to child custody work and keep up to date on research, child welfare, laws, and policies related to child custody evaluations? Child custody evaluators who have fewer than two years experience are encouraged to seek ongoing supervision prior to offering to perform or accepting to conduct an evaluation.
• Accuracy. Did the child custody evaluator strive to be accurate, objective, fair, and independent in their work? Did they utilize peer-reviews published research in their reports for reliability purposes?
• Assessment Instrument. Did the child custody evaluator use an assessment instrument and were they able to support the reason behind using the assessment? Is the instrument reliable and valid?
• Valid Collateral. Did the child custody evaluator provide valid collateral source information? Providing sufficient and reliable collateral source information is critical to a thorough evaluation.
• Reliability of Opinions. Were the opinions expressed by child custody evaluators based on information and data obtained through the application of reliable principals, and methods? The child custody evaluator must differentiate between information gathered, observations made, data collected, inferences made, and opinions formulated. Was empirically-based research utilized in reviewing their information and data?
• Disclosure. It is the child custody evaluator’s responsibility to disclose all collateral sources contacted. Evaluators must list all collateral informants who were contacted and all data sources that were utilized, whether or not the information obtained was utilized by the evaluators in formulating their opinions.
• Unbalanced Opinions. One of the major issues in child custody evaluations is wording that would cause one parent to seem unfavorable with no supportive evidence or data. Due to poor wording, a parent who potentially be seen as an un-fit parent. Is the child custody evaluator biased towards one or both parents? Is there a conflict of interest involved for the evaluator?
If you believe that the results of your family’s child custody evaluation were negatively effected by an unqualified or biased evaluator, please have your attorney call Dr. Kristin Tolbert, Licensed Psychologist and founder of the Psychological Center for Expert Evaluations, Inc., for a complimentary consultation to discuss your options. Our clinicians receive the most up-to-date training on ethically performed parental timesharing evaluations and we are meticulous when searching for factors that could have an unfair impact on your case. Our office is located in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida and we are easily reached throughout Palm Beach County.
In family law court cases, forensic psychologists may be hired as expert consultants to provide…
Q) How can I keep my child’s biased therapist away from my social investigation? I’m…
You don’t get it” “no one understands” “he’s so manipulative” “he’s such a charmer” “somehow…
As concerns about the Coronavirus continue to rise and we learn abourto escalate regarding the…
Dr. Kristin Tolbert is a licensed psychologist based out of Palm Beach County, Florida, who’s…
MAs a Florida Licensed Psychologist with a specialization in Forensic, Family Law cases, I am…
View Comments
DARN...i wish i had 'happened upon' your site before a month or 3 ago.
I lost eleven years of single parent FULL custody just over a month ago. Due to lies, unethical statements by the mediator/evaluator, and school district custodial interference.
I am fighting for Court of Appeal, was thinking of getting my children possible evaluated but was not sure how to go about it--then I found your site. I am very discouraged even in sending this email BUT maybe you'll want to talk. Maybe you have SOME kind of information you can provide; whether services, resources, local counselors, etc????
--amber
Hi Amber-
Feel free to give us a call and we would be more than happy to provide you with information to hopefully point you in the right direction! 561-429-2140 of if you prefer email, DrKTolbert@gmail.com
-Hope to hear from you soon!
Any information for Utah? I'm in the same boat as Amber (above commenter). Dad didn't even want to be involved & I had to beg him to help out with out twins for 3+ yrs! Now he's dating a girl that wants him to have custody and our evaluator is clearly biased.
Hi Krista,
Would you mind commenting on how your case turned out and how you proceeded? That way others may learn from your experience in Utah?
Thanks for your comment,
Dr. Kristin Tolbert
561-429-2140
drtolbert@forensicpsychologicalcenter.com
I had one done recently. Did not consider it any issue as I know who I am and what I do for a living. The results were full of incomplete information, deceit and total lies. I read my copy and was bewildered. Then CPS wants me to go to therapy, removed my career from my life! I can keep my day job, that is okay. Plus, CPS stuck me with the bill! My wife had similar results. I have to wonder who this doctor is. Sure, he works for the county, but he seems to either not listen, or is actually keeping his reviews negative to keep working for the county. I sent the results to my boss and long term friends (11 to 35 years of knowing me) they want to know who the psych exam is for, for it did read like me.
You may want to consider having a work product review done, that way you can bring any method/bias/ethical concerns to the courts attention. If there is evidence that these issues were severe, the Court may decide to disregard the report, give it very little weight, or have a new evaluation altogether.
I am available if you would like to discuss your options further. You can also contact the licensing authority in your state to see if there are any local psychologists who specialize in work product reviews and rebuttal witness testimony.
Thank you for your comment.
Dr. Kristin Tolbert
drtolbert@forensicpsychologicalcenter.com
561-429-2140
A court appointed psychologist wrote an evaluation that was full of negative comments about me. He never interviewed any of my contacts but interviewed all of my ex's contacts. I also discovered a conflict of interest between the ex's attorney and the psychologist. Both of them were connected on a professional business networking web site and had endorsed each other's skill sets.
I filed a motion to exclude his report because of the conflict of interest. The Court denied my motion without comment.
I submitted a complaint to the State Board of Psychology on this psychologist. The Board accepted my complaint and is now investigating him. We filed a request for a continuance because the psychologist is being investigated. The Court denied my request even though his conduct of the investigation of my case is being investigated by the State Board of Psychology!
Among the basic charge of violating the State Statute of conflict of interest I cited the fact that he did not interview any of my contacts but all of the ex's. I had also filed a legal motion with the Court prior to any interviews with the Psychologist. In his report, he makes an opinion about my motion and he isn't an attorney! The ex kept a diary. The diary is replete with ex's lamentations about his alcoholism, struggling with depression and his abuse as a child. The psychologist ignored the diary! He was taking two different kinds of anti-depressants and told the psychologist this. Despite the well-known side effects of taking these drugs together; the psychologist opted to ignore this information as well.
I could go on an on but the Board of Psychology took my complaint seriously. My worry is that I'll lose custody because of this "expert" before the Board will discipline him.
Thank you for your excellent article.
I am so sorry to hear about your experience in the Family Court system. It occurs far more often than I would have ever imagined before coming into this specialized field. Please let me know if you would like to have a brief consult on your case. I am not sure if there is time to do anything to help, but if things are not yet decided, it may be worth it to have a discussion.
Dr. Tolbert
drtolbert@forensicpsychologicalcenter.com
561-429-2140
Hi, in my case when I got the report 4 months later I was confused as to some of the information that was in the report. Statements I never made about my family, some were partially true while others off the wall. The kicker though was a statement about an incident that actually occurred a little over 2 months after the evaluation! This made me look him up, he doesn't even have a license in psychology-there is a pending listed, but has been for close to a yer now. Also, the battery of written tests-I had invoked my 5th amendment right on the paper and choose not to answer some of the questions. The second "author" who read the results stated once, maybe twice in the report that the results were inconclusive_creating invalid profiles- yet they still made diagnostic impressions and forensic conclusions that recommend termination and "a psychiatric assessment to include prescribed use of psychoactive agents" Now when I brought this to my attorney's (public defender) attention she has refused to do anything about it. She just said to have another evaluation done. When I told her I wanted a work product review, she didn't know what I was talking about and has refused to acknowledge that he isn't licensed in the state to even conduct these evaluations. I don't know what else to do, the report also recommended 18 months of individual counseling also.
The whole psyc evaluation went agaisnt me and I need to speak to someone
I had a 730 done at my expense which was proven that the evaluator did not follow the 5.220 laws including making recommendations with out interviewing anyone, it was discovered that the evaluator worked with my ex husbands wife. She was also caught lying on the stand, I then had a 733 done which was determined the first report was biased and didnt follow the state guidelines now the orgional evaluator wants to do a re-evaluation on what she should have done the 1st time for another $4000 which if I am forced to do so will bring this 730 costing me a total of almost $12,000 who can I file a complaint to and what can I do to not have to see this lady again. Due to her slander of witnesses she never interviewed they now refuse to speak with her
My eval for custody case was soooo wrong and everything got turned on me!! I brought in documents of fahters abuse restraining orders etc. I have court coming up do not want to lose my child because of this what so ido
My ex served 2+ years on probation for beating our handicapped daughter who is not-verbal, can't walk, or do much of anything. She resides in a convalescent home for medically fragile children.
After he beat her, he accepted an Alfred plea and served his sentence. Now he is suing for sole custody of our minor son and the court is going to give it to him because of the psychological evaluation that was full of lies. His mother-in-law is his free attorney. I've spent over $30,000 fighting for my son and I am out of money and will have to give up. He has spent ZERO.
Okay I sympathize with you guys but listen to this I am a man and in 2010 I got hurt at work and I got disability because of my hands they still work and everything I just can't do everything completely like I used to for work so me and my wife decided to change jobs I'm the stay-at-home dad fixing the dinners diapers everything else for over 6 years and a half. She decided to leave me took off to another state I had to go get an attorney to get my kids back filed for a divorce now we have an a evaluators wish I don't like and I didn't trust her she did her evaluation she just talked to my attorney and said that I would be a danger to my kids if I would continue being around them because I have brainwashed them. I don't understand it but my lawyer said that she's well respected and so they were probably pretty much listen to her, I feel like she's been discriminating me targeting me and how I know that, my daughters told me they had recorded the evaluation and sure enough she had been just targeting on me through the whole evaluation and with my daughters .I didn't find out my daughter's recorded it until two days later then I heard the recording. I feel alone my wife is white everybody's white ,judges evaluators lawyers I'm the only Brown Mexican talk about feeling alone and left out I just don't understand I've been a very good husband and a super dad I still don't understand why this happened to me. How can I get rid of this lying evaluators testimony. And I have to go to court next week and I don't know what to do even with a lawyer, I don't want to lose my children I've been the mother and father to them for over 6 years