Assignment: Custody Evaluation
Forensic professionals are often called upon to provide opinions about custody in cases of divorce, parental termination, and reestablishment of custody after a child has been removed from the custodial parent's home. Specific ethical and legal parameters govern when and how a professional should offer such an opinion in a legal setting. For this assignment, you will be asked to provide an analysis of factors relevant to custody evaluations or evaluations for termination of parental rights.
Tasks:
In a 3- to 4-page paper, address the following:
• The best interests of the child, with a specific focus on how this is defined in the APA guidelines
• The manner in which the best-interest decisions are influenced by the wishes of the child
• The difference between a fact and an expert witness in the cases of child custody
• The specific procedures, including parent interviews, child interviews, observations, and objective tests, used in custody evaluations
• The issues surrounding confidentiality, privilege, and privacy in custody evaluations
• The court testimony in custody evaluations, with emphasis on the collective use of data and opinion versus fact in reporting the results
Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
1. The answer should be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
2. The response also include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
3. Also Include a reference page. The Citations and references should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.