Evaluation of Children and Their Families in Legal Contexts: Avoiding the Perils and Looking for Standards.Reviews the book, Clinician's Guide to Child Custody Evaluations (3rd ed.) by Marc J. Ackerman (see record 2006-03020-000). The author, an ongoing contributor to the development of guidelines and methods for forensic evaluations, submits the latest edition of his text to the growing library of resources. This edition adds more discussion of research but has surprising (especially for a third edition) organizational, focus, and editing concerns that will make it a better intermediate-level resource than a first introduction to this complex field. One of the book's strengths is that the author addresses the sticky interface of legal and ethical issues, helping psychologists to navigate these somewhat frightening paths. Ackerman provides an important, although brief, discussion of factors that can affect judgment and create biased thinking. This is critical information for scientist-practitioners and could be expanded, given the potential impact on the evaluation conclusions. This book is not for the novice. It suffers from unevenness of coverage and disorganization of some sections (Chapter 3 is particularly confusing) that might impede access to information or be distracting to someone using this as a first introduction. Some drawbacks to the text's section on instruments are not only the small number of instruments discussed but also that Ackerman continues to recommend controversial procedures. was dismayed to see in the psychological testing discussions the usual emphasis on the MMPI-2 and very little discussion of assessment instruments for children. As ambitious as the Clinician's Guide is, in attempting to cover the entire custody evaluation process, start to finish, its unevenness of coverage of important areas makes it unsuitable as an introduction to the field. It is, however, a helpful supplementary and thought-provoking resource for the seasoned clinician entering the field of custody evaluations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved)https://www.upress.umn.edu/test-division/bibliography/2000-2009/2006/morford_evaluation_2006https://www.upress.umn.edu/logo.png
Marolyn Morford
(2006)
Evaluation of Children and Their Families in Legal Contexts: Avoiding the Perils and Looking for Standards.