ABSTRACT
Child custody evaluations (CCEs) are most commonly ordered in family court cases in which potentially serious questions have been raised about relative (and sometimes absolute) parental psychological fitness. These questions often involve allegations about past events involving matters such as neglectful parenting, domestic violence, deliberate alienation of a child from a parent, substance abuse, inappropriate discipline, and child sexual abuse. Many of the investigative tools relevant to addressing such allegations are no more proprietary to psychologists than they are to historians, journalists, detectives, or lawyers.
