Child custody evaluations are an important step in the custody process. During these evaluations, a court-appointed mental health professional will evaluate your family as well as your home. The professional will then make a recommendation based on his or her findings concerning the rights that a parent will have to visit with the children in the future.
If you have been required by a Georgia court to undergo a custody evaluation, it is common to feel uncertain and even overwhelmed by this process. In addition to making sure that your home is clean, there are a number of other strategies that can make this process more manageable.
How to Prepare for an Evaluation
No matter if you request an evaluation or have been required to undergo one, it is important to take the necessary steps to prepare. Some of the helpful strategies that you can follow to successfully navigate this process include:
- Adequately prepare. By preparing both yourself, your home, and the necessary documents for the valuation, you can show the evaluator that you are taking the process seriously. Documents should often include details about any time that you have spent with the child, notes on the child’s school schedule, the child’s extracurricular schedule, and the child’s medical records.
- Make sure your home is ready. By making sure that a home is kept both clean and organized, you can begin the evaluation on the best terms possible.
- Treat the evaluator respectfully. Evaluators are impartial judges of homes and parents and merely doing their job. This means that you should make sure to treat evaluations as kindly and respectfully as possible.
- Keep your emotions under control. Child custody evaluations are understandably stressful and can trigger a number of negative emotions in parents. It is important to remember that you are responsible for how you respond to this situation because it can end up influencing the results.
Know How to Spot a Bad Custody Evaluation
No matter what preparation steps some parents take, evaluations sometimes do not go as they plan. Some of the signs that a custody evaluation did not proceed in the best possible manner include:
- If you said anything negative about the other parent.
- If an evaluator seems to unfairly appears to favor the other parent over you.
- Things that are difficult to control are taken into consideration during the evaluation like the value of your home.
- Substantial inequalities in the amount of time that an evaluation of one parent’s home takes as compared to the other parent’s home.
If you reach an unfavorable outcome in a custody evaluation, one of the best steps that you can take is to speak with an experienced lawyer.
A Skilled Family Law Attorney can Help
If you are navigating the child custody process, it is common to feel uncertain about what lies ahead. Fortunately, a knowledgeable attorney can help to make this process much more manageable. At Vayman & Teitelbaum P.C., we can help make sure that your custody evaluation proceeds in the best possible manner. We know how frightening this time can be and we are prepared to fight for the results you deserve.