Written by an interdisciplinary group comprised of lawyers, judges, psychologists, and adolescent and child psychiatrists, this book identifies and examines the major legal and mental health issues confronted in post-divorce custody and visitation litigation. It examines state legislation and judicial doctrine as well as reform efforts such as the Uniform Marriage and Divorce Act and the American Law Institute's Principles of the Law of Family Dissolution. As the authors themselves suggest, "a great many important and difficult divorce-custody legal and psychological issues have not been objectively and thoroughly explored in the literature and in courtrooms -- indeed, many of them have been the subjects of misleading and sometimes ignorant reports and testimony -- and judges and children and their parents have been the losers." The book has been designed to provide a sort of glossary -- an objective description and analysis -- of the underlying mental health aspects of legal issues and mental health professionals' concerns about how those issues are approached and resolved in divorce-custody cases. The book will be useful to practicing lawyers, mental health professionals and judges. "This book is full of practical gems... It would be a useful addition to a family court judge's collection, law firms or practitioners with child custody practice, and an academic law library. It would also be useful to mental health practitioners who work in or advise those who work in the family court system." -- Legal Information ALERT

Whether assessing general family functioning or specific areas of conflict, professionals preparing child custody evaluations require sound knowledge of three interrelated fields: up-to-date legal issues, psychological findings, and forensic procedures. This book covers these three essential areas to walk readers through the evaluation process clearly and concisely. It further provides a unique combination of legal guidelines with social science research.

Parental Alienation: The Handbook for Mental Health and Legal Professionals is the essential “how to” manual in this important and ever increasing area of behavioral science and law. Busy mental health professionals need a reference guide to aid them in developing data sources to support their positions in reports and testimony. They also need to know where to go to find the latest material on a topic. Having this material within arm’s reach will avoid lengthy and time-consuming online research. For legal professionals who must ground their arguments in well thought out motions and repeated citations to case precedent, ready access to state or province specific legal citations spanning thirty-five years of parental alienation cases is provided here for the first time in one place. • Over 1000 Bibliographic Entries• 500 Cases Examined• 25 Sample Motions in MS Word Format* *Note: The eBook version contains the additional supplemental materials in PDF format only. It does not contain the MS Word formatted sample motions.

Contemporary Issues in Family Law and Mental Health is an original and practical discussion of cutting-edge issues in family relations and the law. Through the prism of family law, and custody disputes in particular, it discusses the basic principles that underlie the proper use of mental health evidence in court and it sets out the proper use of mental health evidence in litigation. The first and most important principal is that forensic mental health practice and procedures must track the legal process, not the other way around. The goal of mental health treatment is fundamentally different.

Essential reading if you are currently involved in custody cases or are considering work in the family law arena. Also a valuable resource for judges and attorneys who must evaluate the extent to which testimony by mental health practitioners is ethical, appropriate, and consistent with accepted practice standards.The author, a psychologist and attorney, uses his unique perspective to delineate standards for practice when providing services to children and families where there are custody disputes.Ethical issues, legal risks, and appropriate safeguards for providing services in child custody cases are described. Core areas for custody evaluations are defined, including: child development, family relations, parenting skills, psychopathology, family systems and dysfunction, and the ruling-out of child abuse. The importance of clarifying professional roles and functions is stressed. Specialized intervention and assessment strategies are presented as well as management issues, legal concerns, and guidelines for testimony. Also includes over 100 valuable summary guidelines and cautions.