Clinical assessment of parents in child protection cases: An empirical analysis

We investigated the content and legal relevance of clinical evaluations of parents conducted in child abuse and neglect cases. The sample consisted of 190 mental health evaluation reports, randomly selected from major provide rs, that had been completed on parents involved in a large, urban juvenile court system. We coded evaluations on 170 objective and qualitative charact eristics in order to assess for criteria recommended in the forensic litera ture. We compared evaluations across groups categorized by type (e.g., psyc hological, psychiatric, bonding/parenting, substance abuse) and where the a ssessments were performed (outside or inside the court). We found numerous substantive failures to meet those criteria for forensic relevance. Evaluat ions of parents typically were completed in a single session, rarely includ ed a home visit, used few if any sources of information other than the pare nt, often cited no previous written reports, rarely used behavioral methods , stated purposes in general rather than specific terms, emphasized weaknes ses over strengths in reporting results, and often neglected to describe th e parent's caregiving qualities or the child's relationship with the parent . Some relevant differences were evident across assessement groups, pointin g to examples of more thorough, parenting-specific evaluation practices. We recommend ways to improve current practices in forensic parenting assessme nt.