Conducting Child Custody Evaluations: From Basic to Complex Issues

This book is a combination of two previously published books by Phil Stahl/Sage, Conducting Child Custody Evaluations and Complex Issues in Child Custody Evaluations. The books can be used in a variety of courses from marriage and family therapy, family law, ethical and legal issues in social work, child welfare, and forensic psychology. The book was written as a guide to help students and practitioners walk through the process of conducting a child custody evaluation, a critical skill for a variety of mental health practitioners. The book will cover the mental health expert's many possible roles as a therapist, mediator, evaluator, consultant to attorneys, expert witness, and more. It also address the best interest of the child, legal custody and time share, divorce and its impact on children, and children's developmental needs. The second part takes a step-by-step approach on how to conduct the evaluation, including how to work with children and parents, psychological testing, and writing up the report. The final part, complex issues, draws from the 1999 book, and covers issues such as domestic violence, non-violent high-conflict homes, relocation, special needs children, substance abuse, cultural issues and the alienated child. The author's writing style is friendly and easy to read, making complex material easy to comprehend and implement. The reviewers were highly complimentary of Stahl's writing style and appreciated the relaxed tone. In sum, by combining these books and updating them, this book will be the most comprehensive text on conducting child custody evaluations.The new book will add and update the following:More on cultural and ethnic issuesMore on mental illness and personality disorderExpanded and highlighted section on the actual evaluationmediation and collaborative lawMore up-to-date case studies highlighting good and bad practicemore on evidence based researchA-