16th Symposium on Child Custody: Workshop 29 Evaluation |
Conducting Risk Assessments in the Context of Domestic Violence
Child safety is of paramount concern for legal and mental health and legal professionals and domestic violence, and its impact on children, puts them in harm’s way. Triage and risk assessments can be effective in family law cases for developing parenting plans that provide the court and families with targeted interventions and support. Risk factors, such as substance abuse, mental illness, and child maltreatment, may be contributing issues and need to be considered in a risk evaluation. In cases where child custody and placement is contested and domestic abuse is a factor, family court professionals must be able to recognize and account for abuse in recommendations to the court.