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Mental Health Evaluations In Child Welfare Settings, Joshua B. Kay

Book Chapters

This chapter will focus mainly on parenting capacity evaluations performed by psychologists, as these evaluations tend to be the most legally fraught type of assessment in a child protection proceeding. Often, assessments of parenting capacity inform important, difficult, and potentially contentious questions in the case, including whether to remove a child from a parent's custody or maintain a child in foster care; the frequency and conditions of parent-child visitation; recommended interventions to address parenting deficiencies or problems in the parent-child relationship; and whether and when termination of parental rights should be considered. Despite their central role in providing information that …

Collaboration Between Lawyers And Mental Health Professionals: Making It Work, Donald N. Duquette

Book Chapters

Many questions presented to the court in child welfare cases are resolved with the direction, professional advice, and judgment of mental health professionals. Lawyers and judges look to a number of different professions for this guidance; chief among them are psychiatrists, psychologists, and clinical social workers. The focus of this chapter is on ways for lawyers to enhance and improve the performance of the mental health professionals in the courtroom.

This chapter presents a step-b/step process for lawyer collaboration with mental health professionals in child protection and foster care cases, which is relevant for attorneys representing the child welfare agency, …