A guide for mental health practitioners undertaking complex child care assessments for the courts. Contributors advise on sensitive issues, including the impact on children of parents with psychiatric problems or learning disabilities.

These are the sorts of questions that face mental health practitioners who are increasingly involved in complex child care cases which come before the courts. They have been given little guidance to date on how these assessments should be made, especially where a decision has to be taken as to whether a child has experienced "significant harm." In this book senior clinicians consider the principles and practice of parenting assessments and how they guide courts' decisions about children's welfare. They describe a number of frameworks for assessment and discuss the factors which help predict the risk of future maltreatment or the likelihood of successful rehabilitation. Throughout the book the emphasis is on the need to integrate the assessments of all relevant professionals in order to serve the best interests of the child, while also addressing the parents' potential to improve their caretaking skills.

Part I. Introduction. Reder, Lucey, Significant Issues in the Assessment of Parenting. Part II. Components of Parenting Assessments. Stratton, Hanks, Assessing Family Functioning in Parenting Breakdown. Reder, Duncan, The Meaning of the Child. Fitzpatrick, Reder, Lucey, The Child's Perspective. Glaser, Emotionally Abusive Experiences. Smith, Assessing Protectiveness in Cases of Child Sexual Abuse. Fitzpatrick, Assessing Treatability. Browne, Predicting Maltreatment. Jenner, McCarthy, Quantitative Measures of Parenting: A Clinical-developmental Perspective. Maitra, Giving Due Consideration to the Family's Racial and Cultural Background. Part III. Specific Circumstances. Cassell, Coleman, Parents with Psychiatric Problems. Coleman, Cassell, Parents Who Misuse Drugs and Alcohol. Gath, Parents with Learning Disability. King, Parents
Who Are Gay or Lesbian. Black, Parents Who Have Killed Their Partner. Lindsey, Alternative Caretakers. Baker, What Constitutes Reasonable Contact? Part IV. Conclusions. Lucey, Reder, Balanced Opinions.