Child custody assessment: a field survey of spanish forensic psychologists’ practices

The participation of forensic psychologists has become common practice in proceedings involving families in dispute over child custody, and also to assess the suitability of joint custody. In order to know the practice, methodology, and decision-making criteria of Spanish forensic psychologists expe...

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Main Authors: Joan Guàrdia, Maribel Peró, Adolfo Jarne, Mila Arch
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Sociedad Española de Psicología Jurídica y Forense 2011-07-01
Series:European Journal of Psychology Applied to Legal Context
Subjects:
Online Access:http://webs.uvigo.es/sepjf/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=37&Itemid=110&lang=en
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author Joan Guàrdia
Maribel Peró
Adolfo Jarne
Mila Arch
author_facet Joan Guàrdia
Maribel Peró
Adolfo Jarne
Mila Arch
author_sort Joan Guàrdia
collection DOAJ
description The participation of forensic psychologists has become common practice in proceedings involving families in dispute over child custody, and also to assess the suitability of joint custody. In order to know the practice, methodology, and decision-making criteria of Spanish forensic psychologists experienced in family cases, 66 Spanish forensic psychologists (error margin ±.06) responded to a Spanish adaptation of the questionnaire for the assessment of child custody evaluation practices by Keilin and Bloom (1986) and Ackerman and Ackerman (1997). The results showed that it was indifferent for the respondents to be retained by the court or one of the parties, and that the evaluation included a document review, each parent’s individual interview, each child’s individual interview, psychological tests run to parents and children, observation of parent-child interaction, and reports by other professionals. As regards the custody type, most of them chose sole custody. As for decision-making criteria for sole custody, the results showed that Spanish forensic psychologists follow a hierarchical decision-making model that begins, firstly, with the application of criteria concerning the child’s protection (e.g. cruelty, abuse, negligence), then moving on to parental abilities. The decision over joint custody also follows a hierarchical decision-making model, where suitability is assessed initially and, if applicable, a decision is made based on its possible success or failure.
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spelling doaj.art-1d288a329a494af69ad5f2b70adcf0c42022-12-21T18:22:50ZengSociedad Española de Psicología Jurídica y ForenseEuropean Journal of Psychology Applied to Legal Context1889-18611989-40072011-07-0132107128Child custody assessment: a field survey of spanish forensic psychologists’ practicesJoan GuàrdiaMaribel PeróAdolfo JarneMila ArchThe participation of forensic psychologists has become common practice in proceedings involving families in dispute over child custody, and also to assess the suitability of joint custody. In order to know the practice, methodology, and decision-making criteria of Spanish forensic psychologists experienced in family cases, 66 Spanish forensic psychologists (error margin ±.06) responded to a Spanish adaptation of the questionnaire for the assessment of child custody evaluation practices by Keilin and Bloom (1986) and Ackerman and Ackerman (1997). The results showed that it was indifferent for the respondents to be retained by the court or one of the parties, and that the evaluation included a document review, each parent’s individual interview, each child’s individual interview, psychological tests run to parents and children, observation of parent-child interaction, and reports by other professionals. As regards the custody type, most of them chose sole custody. As for decision-making criteria for sole custody, the results showed that Spanish forensic psychologists follow a hierarchical decision-making model that begins, firstly, with the application of criteria concerning the child’s protection (e.g. cruelty, abuse, negligence), then moving on to parental abilities. The decision over joint custody also follows a hierarchical decision-making model, where suitability is assessed initially and, if applicable, a decision is made based on its possible success or failure.http://webs.uvigo.es/sepjf/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=37&Itemid=110&lang=enDivorceSeparationChild custodySole custodyJoint custodyForensic assessmentDecision-making criteria
spellingShingle Joan Guàrdia
Maribel Peró
Adolfo Jarne
Mila Arch
Child custody assessment: a field survey of spanish forensic psychologists’ practices
European Journal of Psychology Applied to Legal Context
Divorce
Separation
Child custody
Sole custody
Joint custody
Forensic assessment
Decision-making criteria
title Child custody assessment: a field survey of spanish forensic psychologists’ practices
title_full Child custody assessment: a field survey of spanish forensic psychologists’ practices
title_fullStr Child custody assessment: a field survey of spanish forensic psychologists’ practices
title_full_unstemmed Child custody assessment: a field survey of spanish forensic psychologists’ practices
title_short Child custody assessment: a field survey of spanish forensic psychologists’ practices
title_sort child custody assessment a field survey of spanish forensic psychologists practices
topic Divorce
Separation
Child custody
Sole custody
Joint custody
Forensic assessment
Decision-making criteria
url http://webs.uvigo.es/sepjf/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=37&Itemid=110&lang=en
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AT adolfojarne childcustodyassessmentafieldsurveyofspanishforensicpsychologistspractices
AT milaarch childcustodyassessmentafieldsurveyofspanishforensicpsychologistspractices