When Custody Evaluators Lose Focus

None of those who have written on the subject of performing parenting evaluations has asserted that the task is an easy one. There has, however, been broad agreement among writers in the mental health fields, and reasonable clarity in law, concerning the objective that evaluators should endeavor to meet. The Association of Family and Conciliation Courts' Model Standards for Child Custody Evaluation, in its Preamble, states, in part: “The child custody evaluation process involves the compilation of information and the formulation of opinions pertaining to the custody or parenting of a child and the dissemination of that information and those opinions to the court, to the litigants, and to the litigants' attorneys.”