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Impact of Mental Illness on Parenting Capacity in A Child Custody Matter
Author(s) -
Deutsch Robin M.,
Clyman Jeremy
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
family court review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.171
H-Index - 4
eISSN - 1744-1617
pISSN - 1531-2445
DOI - 10.1111/fcre.12201
Subject(s) - child custody , mental illness , psychology , mental health , meaning (existential) , developmental psychology , psychiatry , psychotherapist , criminology
Recently, courts have seen an increase in cases where a parent has an alleged or documented mental illness. Understanding whether there is a mental illness and what the symptoms are and determining the meaning of this information for parenting and child functioning present a host of challenges for judges, custody evaluators, and attorneys. We offer an example of a custody evaluator's inquiry and present a functional‐contextual model for considering the significant parental capacities and vulnerabilities that impact child functioning, in order to better make decisions about parent access and treatment. Practitioner Keypoints: Understand how to effectively integrate mental health information into matters of custody Identify parenting and co‐parenting tasks and behaviors that may be affected by mental illness Identify parenting capacities that are linked to child outcomes Review a step‐by‐step decision‐making process to effectively examine allegations of mental illness during a custody evaluation or dispute