Psychological Testing in a Savannah Custody Case: A Georgia family lawyer explains

The divorcing couple fighting for custody of children involved is subjected to many different psychological testing to determine who the better parent would be. A mental health professional would be entrusted with evaluating the parents for parenting skills.

Many kinds of test are used for evaluation purposes. These include:

• The MMPI-2 or the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory use to determine psychological disorders and cognitive functioning. This test alone is not sufficient.
• Million Clinical MultiAxial Inventory or the MCMMI-3 can find out personality disorders on the basis of answers to true or false questions.
• Rorschach test – find out personality of parent by describing drawings of people.
• TAT or Thematic Apperception Test which is very similar to Rorschach test and reveals personality of respondent.
• Bricklin Perceptual Scales or BPS is specifically designed for custody evaluations and has the child as respondent answering questions about parents.
• ASPECT or Ackerman-Schoedorf Scales for Parent Evaluation of Custody is a combination of many tests.

Evaluators rely more on interviews conducted with both parents as well as child. Sometimes other people who are associated with the family like teachers, babysitters, pediatricians etc are also interviewed. Family members like step parents, grand parents and siblings are also subjected to interviews by psychological evaluators. The evaluator prepares a report and submits it to Georgia family court. The final word on custody is the courts but evaluators report is read very carefully by judge before ruling the case.

Child custody law varies from state to state. In some states there is inclination towards joint custody while in others sole custody is preferred. Thus ruling in best interest of child has arbitrary meanings and is based on discretionary power of judge presiding over case. Generally, all states want the child to be looked after well and supported. Thus ruling in best interest of child is the latest mantra of custody issues in family courts. In Georgia, there is no particular presumption and hence custody is completely based on parents and their personalities. If the judge feels that joint custody can endanger the child, sole custody is awarded. If both parents want to separate amicably and agree to most terms, joint custody is recommended. All decisions are based on careful study and scrutiny of case.

Joint custody ensures that child remains in contact with both parents and they can participate in the life of their child. Sole custody is awarded in cases where one of the parent displays anomalies in his behavior as stated in evaluators report.

Custody issues are complicated and one needs aggressive legal representation to protect our rights and be prepared for the judge’s order. Legal counsel would be able to brief clients regarding standard custody determinations and also about their rights and responsibilities.