A Child Custody Evaluation is a court-ordered evaluation to assist the parents and the court in determining a parenting plan that is in children's best interests. Dr. Stahl provides child custody evaluations with a court order.

A complete evaluation includes the following:

1. Interviews with both parents, children, and other significant adults in your child's life. These interviews may be individual and/or in any combination and as often as necessary for the purpose of the evaluation.

2. Home visits, especially when one or more of the children is under the age of six or there are specific issues that can only be answered via the observations of a home visit.

3. Psychological testing and parenting questionnaires.

4. Parents are asked to sign a release of information form that will provide Dr. Stahl with access to medical, school, legal, and other professional information. These releases will give permission to others to provide necessary information to him.

During the course of an evaluation, Dr. Stahl does not give advice, nor does he reveal his thoughts or ideas. At the conclusion of the evaluation, however, Dr. Stahl prepares a thorough and comprehensive report outlining specific recommendations that can be incorporated into a parenting plan. In more complex evaluations, he is likely to provide alternative recommendations and the risks and benefits of each. Parents and their attorneys must remember that, as an expert of the court, Dr. Stahl will understand and consider the concerns of the parents, but will make recommendations based on his perceptions of the child's best interests.

For more information on child custody evaluations, you will want to see "The Anatomy of a Child Custody Evaluation".

Dr. Stahl adheres to the standards for child custody evaluation developed by the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, the American Psychological Association, and the California Center for Families, Children and the Courts.