University of Toronto

Perhaps due to the complexity of child custody cases, the courts often turn to mental health professionals to provide recommendations regarding parenting plans based on high-quality, unbiased, evidenced-based custody evaluations. This series of workshops will provide participants with the foundational knowledge and skills for conducting custody evaluations.

Consistent with the established standards of practice and ethical guidelines for conducting custody evaluations, this workshop provides the foundation needed to conduct both private (section 30) and publicly funded (section 112) custody evaluations in Ontario.

This 48 hour workshop series consists of two modules:

[CUST 1]               Procedures for Conducting Custody Evaluations
[CUST 2]               Analysis and Reporting for Custody Evaluations

[CUST 3]
There is also a 3-day Advanced Seminar [CUST 3] for participants who have completed the 48 workshop series, and for advanced custody evaluators in the field with a Masters degree in a human service profession.

Each module will include a combination of lectures, class activities, role-plays and presentations from experts in the field.

Prerequisites                                    

Prospective students must have a Masters Degree in a human service profession from an accredited University. No prior experience in conducting custody evaluations is needed.

Exemptions                                       

All participants are required to enroll and attend each of the two modules, unless granted special permission by the Program Director.

Certificate Requirements            

Upon completion of the program, participants will receive a certificate of attendance indicating completion of the 48-hour workshop.

In this course you will learn

 -To understand the role of custody evaluations within the context of divorce and separation

-To develop the knowledge and skills necessary to conduct custody evaluations that are therapeutic, transparent, ethical and of the highest integrity

- Data-gathering techniques (interviewing parents, children, collaterals) and their application

- The knowledge and skills necessary for accurate presentation of data supported by the best-available evidence

- To appreciate core ethical, legal and clinical issues relevant to the context of conducting custody evaluations for the court

 
Courses

[CUST 1]               Procedures for Conducting Custody Evaluations

In this first module, participants will learn about the context of conducting custody evaluations, including policies, government legislations and Family Law (e.g. Divorce Act, Children’s Law Report Act, Child and Family Services Act, etc), that both sanction and provide guidelines for conducting evaluations. Participants will be introduced to contemporary clinical issues such as domestic violence, exposure to domestic violence, high conflict, alienation, abuse, relocation, and parenting. Participants will learn about the process of conducting custody evaluations by focusing on the steps for data gathering. Topics will include:  interviewing parents, interviewing children, the role of new partners, the role of grandparents, the ecological validity of home observations visits, and interviewing professional collateral sources.

[CUST 2]               Analysis and Reporting for Custody Evaluations
In this second module, participants will learn about the strategies for analyzing and assessing data, conducting disclosure meetings, writing reports for the court, answering to disputes and testifying in court. Participants will learn ways of vetting for bias and dealing with ethical dilemmas that can arise in the course of this work. Case examples, roles plays and small group discussions will be used to enhance learning goals and to provide participants the opportunity to integrate course content.  In this module, participants will also be given helpful strategies for starting their own private practice to conduct custody evaluations, including a custody evaluation tool kit.   

[CUST 3]                   Advanced Seminar Training
The advanced seminar training is open to participants who have completed the Foundations for Conducting Custody Evaluation program or who have demonstrable knowledge and experience in conducting custody evaluations. The purpose of the advanced seminar training is to enhance participants’ understanding of the ethical procedures in custody evaluations, especially when there are allegations of child maltreatment, domestic violence, and alienation. In this advanced seminar training, participants will learn about the most relevant scientific evidence in the areas of domestic violence, maltreatment, high conflict, alienation, and various parenting plans. By focusing on these contemporary issues, participants will improve their skills in conducting child custody evaluations, including interviewing, observing, analyzing and reporting within a thorough understanding of how these contemporary issues impact the custody evaluation process and reporting.

[CUST4]  December 9th, 10th & 11th, 2011*

[CUST1]  May 10th, 11th & 12th, 2012
[CUST2]  May 24th, 25th & 26th, 2012
[CUST3]  November 22nd, 23rd & 24th 2012

* Please note that CUST4 refers to the Advanced Seminar Training offered in the 2010-2011 Continuing Education Course Calendar. Please refer to CUST4 to register for this course online or over the phone.

Michael Saini, PhD
Michael is an Assistant Professor at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto. His interests focus on research, policy and practice with children and families involved with child welfare, family law and alternative dispute programs. His current research explores high-conflict divorce and separation, parenting competency after divorce, and the intersection of child welfare and custody disputes. He has published in the areas of evidence-based custody evaluations, factors of inter-parental high conflict, the treatment of anger and aggression, judicial decisions of joint custody, and parenting competency post divorce and separation.

Lorraine Martin, MSW
Lorraine is a Co-Chair of the Child Custody Evaluation Standards Task Force for the Association of Family Conciliations and the Courts, an Editorial Board Member for the Family Court Review and the Journal of Child Custody, and recently retired Clinical Coordinator for the Office of the Children’s Lawyer. Ms. Martin has extensive national and international training experience in teaching methods for conducting custody evaluations.