Sara Kashing, JD,
Staff Attorney
The Therapist
 November/December 2012

In California, child custody evaluations can be conducted either by court staff or by private professionals, depending on a local court’s resources and structure. This article focuses on the requirements for private child custody evaluators. The requirements for court-connected child custody evaluators will be addressed in a subsequent article. If you are interested in conducting child custody evaluations, either as a private or court-connected evaluator, you should become familiar with Family Code Sections 3110.5, 3111, 1816 as well as California Rules of Court 5.220, 5.225, and 5.230. You should also become familiar with the local court’s rules as they may have additional requirements or criteria.¹

Licensing Requirements
Private child custody evaluators must either be licensed as a psychologist, marriage and family therapist, clinical social worker, physician who is board-certified as a psychiatrist or be a licensed physician who has completed a residency in psychiatry. These criteria do not apply in cases where the court determines that there are no evaluators who meet the licensing requirements who are willing and available within a reasonable period of time, to perform child custody evaluations. In those cases, the parties to the custody dispute must agree to have the evaluations performed by non licensed providers and the prospective evaluators are subject to approval by the court.

Initial Education and Training Requirements
Private child custody evaluators must complete 40 hours of initial education and training from an eligible provider. Eligible providers include the Administrative Office of the Court and may include educational institutions, professional associations, professional continuing education groups, public or private for-profit or non-profit groups and court-connected groups.² The required hours can be completed by attending and participating in an approved course or by serving as an instructor for an approved course. Instructors may only count courses they teach once and may receive credit only for actual classroom time.³

The initial education and training requirements for appointment as a private evaluator are found under California Rule(s) of Court 5.225(d)-(e) and California Rule of Court 5.230.

Before appointment, an evaluator must complete hours of education and training which include all of the following topics:

• The psychological and developmental needs of children, especially as those needs relate to decisions about child custody and visitation.
• Family dynamics, including, but not limited to, parent-child relationships, blended families, and extended family relationships.
• The effects of separation, divorce, domestic violence, child sexual abuse, child physical or emotional abuse or neglect, substance abuse, and interparental conflict on the psychological and developmental needs of children and adults.
• The assessment of child sexual abuse issues; local procedures for handling child sexual abuse cases; the effect that court procedures may have on the evaluation process when there are allegations of child sexual abuse; and the areas of training required by Family Code Section 3110.5(b)(2)(A)-(F), as listed below:

• Children’s pattern of hiding and disclosing sexual abuse in a family setting
• The effects of sexual abuse on children
• The nature and extent of sexual abuse
• The social and family dynamics of child sexual abuse
• Techniques for identifying and assisting families affected by child sexual abuse
• Legal rights, protections, and remedies available to victims of child sexual abuse

• The significance of culture and religion in the lives of the parties.
• Safety issues that may arise during the evaluation process and their potential effects on all participants in the evaluation.
• When and how to interview or assess adults, infants, and children; gather information from collateral sources; collect and assess relevant data; and recognize the limits of data sources’ reliability and validity.
• The importance of addressing issues such as general mental health, medication use and learning or physical disabilities.
• The importance of staying current with relevant literature and research.
• How to apply comparable interview, assessment, and testing procedures that meet generally accepted clinical, forensic, scientific, diagnostic, or medical standards to all parties.
• When to consult with or involve additional experts or other appropriate persons.
• How to inform each adult party of the purpose, nature, and method of the evaluation.
• How to assess parenting capacity and construct effective parenting plans.
• Ethical requirements.
• The legal context within which child custody and visitation issues are decided and additional legal and ethical standards to consider when serving as a child custody evaluator.
• The importance of understanding relevant distinctions among the roles of evaluator, mediator, and therapist.
• How to write reports and recommendations, where appropriate.
• Mandatory reporting requirements and limitations on confidentiality.
• How to prepare for and give court testimony.
• How to maintain professional neutrality and objectivity when conducting child custody evaluations.
• The importance of assessing the health, safety, welfare, and best interest of the child or children involved in the proceedings.
• In addition to the requirements outlined above, child custody evaluators must comply with basic and advanced domestic violence training requirements as described in California Rule of Court 5.230.4 Basic training in domestic violence issues must include the following:
• The effects of domestic violence on children.
• The nature and extent of domestic violence.
• The social and family dynamics of domestic violence.
• Techniques for identifying and assisting families affected by domestic violence.
• Interviewing, documentation of, and appropriate recommendations for families affected by domestic violence.
• The legal rights of, and remedies available to, victims.
• Availability of community and legal domestic violence resources.5

A total of sixteen hours of advanced training must be completed within a 12-month period. Twelve of those hours must be in the appropriate structuring of the child custody evaluation process, the relevant sections of local, state and federal laws or rules, the range, availability, and applicability of domestic violence resources available to victims, the range availability, and applicability of domestic violence intervention available to perpetrators, the unique issues of the family, and psychological assessment in domestic violence cases. 6 Four of those sixteen hours must be spent engaging in community resource networking in order to familiarize the evaluator with domestic violence resources in the communities where the families being evaluated may live.⁷

Thereafter, four hours of update training are required annually. Those four hours must include instruction that is focused on an update of changes or modifications in local court practices, case law, and state and federal legislation related to domestic violence, as well as an update of current social science research and theory regarding the impact that exposure to domestic violence has on children^.8

Experience Requirements
Child custody evaluators must have participated in the completion of at least four partial or full court-appointed child custody evaluations within the last three years. All of those evaluations must have resulted in a written or oral report. ⁹ As noted above, a court may appoint an evaluator who has not met the experience requirements for evaluators in specified circumstances.

Continued Education and Training Requirements
To remain eligible for appointment, evaluators must not only complete the annual update training in domestic violence but must also complete eight hours of update training which covers the topics that were included in their 40 hours of initial education and training.¹⁰ A newly trained evaluator must complete the continuing education and training requirements within 18 months of the date the initial education and training was completed.¹¹ All other private evaluators must complete the continuing education and training requirements within the 12-month period immediately preceding their appointments to cases.¹²

Use of Interns
Child custody evaluators may use interns or associates to assist with the child custody evaluation as long as the interns/associates and the evaluators do the following:

• The intern must be enrolled in a master’s or doctorate program or have obtained a graduate degree qualifying for licensure or certification as a licensed clinical social worker, licensed marriage and family therapist, psychiatrist, or psychologist.
• The intern must be completing or have completed the coursework necessary to qualify for their degree in the subjects of child abuse assessment and spousal or partner abuse assessment.
• The intern must comply with the applicable laws related to the practice of their profession in California when they are accruing supervised professional experience and providing professional services for a child custody evaluator that fall within the scope of practice as a licensed professional.
• The evaluator must fully disclose to the parties and the attorneys the nature and extent of the intern’s participation in the evaluation before or at the time of appointment to a case.
• The evaluator must obtain the written agreement of the parties and attorneys as to the nature and extent of the intern’s participation in the evaluation.
• The evaluator must ensure that the extent, kind, and quality of work being performed by the intern being supervised is consistent with the intern’s training and experience.
• The evaluator must be physically present when the intern interacts with the parties, the children or other collaterals involved in the evaluation.
• The evaluator must ensure compliance with all the laws and regulations governing theprofessional practice of the supervising evaluator and intern.¹³

The job of a child custody evaluator is often times demanding, but can also be very rewarding. Given the nature of the job, it is unlikely that your recommendation will please all of the parties involved. It is therefore critical for you to be familiar with the above mentioned Family Codes and Rules of Court. Sound clinical practices and a keen understanding of the laws related to child custody evaluations ensure that your recommendations will withstand the scrutiny of the court and legal counsel.

Sara Kashing, JD, is a staff attorney for CAMFT. Sara is available to answer member calls regarding business, legal, and ethical issues.

Endnotes

¹ This article highlights the applicable statutes and rules as they pertain to licensing, education, training and experience requirements. The statutes and rules are available in full online. The Family Code Sections are available at www.leginfo.ca.gov. The California Rules of Court can be found at www.courts.ca.gov/rules. A copy of the declaration of private child custody evaluator qualifications (Form FL-326) can be found at www.courts.ca.gov/forms.
² California Rule of Court 5.225(n)
³ California Rule of Court 5.225(f)
⁴ California Rule of Court 5.225(e
⁵ California Family Code §1816
⁶ California Rule of Court 5.230(d)(1)(A)
⁷ California Rule of Court 5.230(d)(1)(B)
⁸ California Rule of Court 5.230(d)(2)
⁹ California Rule of Court 5.225(g)
¹⁰ California Rule of Court 5.225(i)(1)
¹¹ California Rule of Court 5.225(i)(2)(A)
¹² California Rule of Court 5.225(i)(2)(B)(ii)
¹³ California Rule of Court 5.225(m)