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Child Protection and Parent Evaluations
Child Protection: Psychological evaluations in child protection cases take many forms. Evaluations of abused children are used to facilitate treatment planning and to help with case management. Psychological evaluations of children are not used to determine whether abuse has occurred.
Psychological evaluations of parents or other caregivers in child protection cases may be used to facilitate treatment planning and case management. They can also be used to evaluate important aspects of parental fitness such as parenting skills, attitudes, practices and risk.
For psychologists interested in working in child protection, the following are required reading:
American Psychological Association Committee on Professional Practice and Standards (1998). Guidelines for psychological evaluations in child protection matters. Washington, American Psychological Association.
Budd, K. S. (2001) Assessing Parenting Competence in Child Protection Cases: A Clinical Practice Model. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 4(1), 1-18.
Budd, H. S. & Holdsworth, M. J. (1996). Issues in Clinical Assessment of Minimal Parenting Competence. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 25(1), 1-14.
Budd, K., S., Poindexter, L., M., Felix, E. D. & Naik-Polan, A. T. (2001). Clinical Assessment of Parents in Child Protection Cases: An Empirical Analysis. Law and Human Behavior, 25(1), 93-108.
Dyer, F. J. (1999). Psychological Consultation in Parental Rights Cases. Guillford Press: New York
Ellis, E. M. (2001). Guidelines for Conducting Parental Fitness Evaluations. American Journal of Forensic Psychology, 19 (1), 5-40.
Kuehnle, K., Coulter, M. & Firestone, G. (2000). Child protection evaluations: The forensic stepchild. Family and Conciliation Courts Review, 38(3), 368-391.
Measures with references for evaluating parenting in psychological evaluations in child-protection cases:
The Child Abuse Potential Inventory - 2 Available from Psytec, Inc. P.O. Box 564, DeKalb, IL 60115 (815) 758-1415
Milner, J. & Crouch, J. L. (1997). Impact and detection of response distortion on parenting measures used to assess risk for child physical abuse. Journal of Personality Assessment, 69(3), 633-650.
Milner, J. S. (1994). Assessing physical child abuse risk: The Child Abuse Potential Inventory. Clinical Psychology Review, 14(6), 547-583.
Milner, J. S. (1990). An Interpretive Manual for the Child Abuse Potential Inventory. Webster, NC: Psytec.
The Adult-Adolescent Parenting Inventory - 2 Available from Family Development Resources. http://www.nurturingparent.com or 1-(800)-688-5822
Bavolek & Keene (1999). Adult-Adolescent Parenting Inventory-2 Administration and Development Handbook. Family Development Resources, Inc. Park City, Utah.
The Parenting Stress Index - 3rd edition. Available from Psychological Assessment Resources (PAR). http://www.parinc.com or 1-(800)-331-8378
Abidin, R. R. (1984). Parenting Stress Index, 3rd ed. Odessa FL, Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc.
The Parent-Child Relationship Inventory. Available from Western Psychological Services (WPS). http://www.wpspublish.com or 1-(800)-648-8857
Gerard, A. B. (1994). Parent-Child Relationship Inventory (PCRI) Manual. Los Angeles, California: Western Psychological Services.
The Sentence Completion Series - Parenting Form Available from Psychological Assessment Resources (PAR). http://www.parinc.com or 1-(800)-331-8378
Brown, L. H. & Unger, M. A. (1992). Sentence Completion Series. Professional User’s Guide. Odessa, Fl: Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc.
