The overall purpose of these guidelines is to promote sound practice using evidence-based and psychologically informed methods in conducting child protection evaluations. These evaluations address the impact of such factors as child maltreatment, parenting capacity, risk management, and the nexus between a parent’s (in)action and any significant harm or imminent risk of harm to a child. The guidelines are dedicated to keeping pace with research and legal developments on an increasingly wide range of evaluation issues.
These guidelines offer broad suggestions for psychologists who want to improve their awareness, expertise, and capabilities in conducting child protection evaluations. These guidelines pertain to evaluations of children as to any psychological harm/risk of harm by parents or caregivers, including by foster parents, guardians, and agencies that act in place of parents. Additionally, these guidelines apply whenever a child is being evaluated as to harm/risk of harm by parents or other familial/institutional caregivers as a psycholegal issue.
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