The American Psychological Association often conducts psychological evaluations of parents who are requesting custody of their children in a divorce or custody battle, and then present their findings to the court. Depending on what the psychologist finds, he or she may recommend one parent over the other in a disagreement.
The APA focuses on their goal, which is to promote proficiency in the conduct of their evaluations and make sure that they are evaluating the parents accurately. The APA says that the purpose of their evaluations is to assist in determining the best psychological interests of the children involved. The psychologists want to talk to both the children and parents, and then help the court to arrive at a decision that will benefit the young ones involved to the best level.
The men and women who work for the APA say that they strive to gain specialized competence of the parties that they are working with and psychology as a whole. They work hard to be impartial when they are working with parties, and cannot let their own preferences on personality, race, financial standing, religion, and other factors influence their final evaluations. The importance of a culturally informed and nondiscriminatory attitude cannot be understated, and is heavily encouraged at the APA.
Sometimes, children clearly favor one parent over another, which will heavily weigh the custody agreement in that parent’s favor. When they conduct their evaluations, APA workers believe that the child’s welfare is the primary factor to consider. They will look at parents attributes and how they match up the child’s psychological needs. For example, a child who needs a tender parent probably will not fare well with a father that has anger management issues. If the mother is loving and gentle, then the mom would be a better psychological fit for the child.
If you have an APA worker assigned to your case, he or she will probably conduct a series of interviews as a part of your evaluation. The psychologist will then try to compliment the evaluations with the appropriate combinations of examinations, and interpret the information in a context that is fair for all parties involved. Once he or she has gathered all the information, that psychologist will give an informed recommendation to the court regarding what parent should be the custodian of the children in question.
While these guidelines are carefully followed, there are times that the APA chooses to change their tactics. Recently, the APA decided to announce that the words parenting plan, parenting time, and parental rights and responsibilities should all be treated as synonymous with the term custody. They hope that this will remove some confusion in the legal system. As well, the APA agents now recognize that many custody battles may end in shared custody, rather than primary vs. visiting custodies. The APA says that though they now recognize the possibility of shared custody, they always want to act in the best interests of the child who is involved in the dispute. If a child cannot handle the emotional issues involved with co-parenting, then the court may choose to award full custody to one parent and give the other parent limited visitation.
If you are in the middle of a custody battle and will need to undergo a psychological evaluation with the APA, then you may want to talk to your lawyer. He or she can help give you tips on how to best present yourself to the APA agent. You will want to be completely honest, expressing your love for your child and explaining why you think that he or she needs to remain with you. Also, a convincing lawyer can help you in your plight for child custody. Talk to a family lawyer today to discuss your custody battle and get representation from a compassionate lawyer who truly cares.