What Is A Child Custody Evaluation?

During a divorce, if child custody is a highly contested issue and the two parties involved cannot come up with an agreement regarding custody, a Child Custody Evaluation might be ordered by the court. This is basically an evaluation carried out by a qualified professional in order to determine what might be the best custody arrangements for the children involved. The person who conducts this evaluation is usually chosen by the court, and is a neutral party with no bias toward one side or the other.

If a Child Custody Evaluation is ordered by the court, the person chosen to do the evaluation will go over all of the available information to try to determine what is in the children's best interest. The evaluator will make home visits to the homes of both parties, and hold interviews with both parents as well as the children and any other people who might have an insight into this issue (such as teachers from the children's school and other family members that spend a large amount of time with the children). Both sides in the custody dispute will also have forms to fill out in order to provide the evaluator with as much information as possible.

Not all difficult custody suits will merit a Child Custody Evaluation. These are usually reserved for cases which have special circumstances involved. Some of the issues that might warrant such an evaluation include cases where one parent wishes to move away with the children, cases where the child has a behavioral problem that needs special consideration, or where one of the parents thinks that the other parent might be physically or emotionally harmful for the children (or the social environment provided by one of the parents might be harmful to the children).

After reviewing all of the available information and speaking with all of the interested parties, the evaluator will write a Child Custody Evaluation report that goes over in detail the findings of the evaluator and suggests a child custody arrangement that he or she feels will be best for the children. This report is passed on to both lawyers and the judge, and is meant to be discussed with the parents in a manner that is likely to protect the children from any possible repercussions based on the statements that they have made to the evaluator. After the report is issued parents still have the option to come up with their own custody arrangement if they so wish.

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