By Sherry Gross


It is important for one to understand in detail about custody evaluation in order to make the best decisions for your children. A custody evaluator, who in most cases is appointed by the court, always plays a central role in the evaluation process. These are highly qualified psychologists who are well versed with family matters.

The main objective is always to evaluate the family and recommend to judicial officers on who will make the final decisions on behalf the children. This also includes visitations and other important matters that have a direct impact on the children. You should understand that the decisions made are not unilateral, and will always differ from one family to the other.

Information is gathered using different methods before the evaluator can write down his or her recommendations to the judicial officers. In most cases, it is usually the last resort after spouses have failed to reach into agreements in previous settlements. However, if parents have agreed on their own on how to take care of children, no evaluation will be needed.

It is important to choose an evaluator based on the experience and past records. This is only if you want to solve outstanding issues amicably. Therefore, do not contract evaluators solely based on low charges as decisions might not be justifiable according to your situation. It is also highly recommended that you pick one based on education and past record in order to get the best solution that is not biased in any way.

It is important for you to attend all the sessions in order to make the whole process a success. In most cases, parents need to present themselves in more than two sessions as required by the evaluator. The children too will be interviewed so that their side of the story is heard. This is essential in balancing the decisions.

The evaluation process entails looking at copies of court documents to ascertain that everything dealt with is relevant to the case at hand. Furthermore, it is mandatory that the health of the children is catered for from the onset, and this is the reason why they may have to attend some therapies. This will enable young ones to be able to handle the difficulties that sometimes arise during the sessions. Also, this process is always documented for reference purposes and decision making.

This process is not confidential and documents will be accessed by various persons who are involved in the evaluation process. Therefore, you must not be nervous and talk to your children over the issues. Also, ensure your attorney has details of every session that you attend.

In a nut shell, the process is meant to evaluate and recommend about the best psychological interests of the child. This is always done with a focus on parenting attributes which in this case must benefit the child. The non-discriminatory evaluation process is however only recommended when parents have failed to agree on matters affecting their children.




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