Based on the information provided by the psychologist, her choice not to write this letter would appear to be consistent with standards and guidelines around providing any type of opinion relating to parenting , custody and associated issues, etc. As described in the NSRP Custody and Access Evaluation Guidelines “the psychologist uses multiple avenues of data collection to arrive at his/her professional opinion”nIf the psychologisgt had information she deemed credible that a child was in need of protection, she would make a report to Children and Family Services but she does not appear to have made this determination. Optionally she may always consult with the hospital’s legal department if she wanted their opinion on the legal bases of reporting what she noted was hearsay. Finally, if the daughter and mother feel they posses such information to report, they would be able to report to DCS, rather than having the psychologist write a letter of opinion.
A psychologist is currently seeing a 19yr woman (approx.. 4 times so far), this 19 yr old client has an eating disorder. Mom and Dad have split, and they had shared custody, however client has not seen her father in over a year. The 19-year-old told Mom and her psychologist about emotional and physical abuse by the father.
The father remarried and the 19- year-old has a good relationship with her stepmom. They have a 3-year-old daughter. Father and stepmom have split, and the 3-year-old is showing signs of emotional abuse (when she comes home from father’s tells her mom she is a bad mom). The stepmom is requesting supervised visit with father.
The Stepmom would like the psychologist to write a letter stating that she doesn’t feel it is in the best interest for the 3yr old to have unsupervised visits and that the 3yr old is showing signs of abuse. This is all hearsay to the psychologist, and she is looking for guidance on what she can write if anything in this situation.
Category:
Registrant
Reference:
Custody
