Child Access Assessment
Child Access Assessments are ordered through the court and are intended to assist the court in making child-focused decisions regarding your family. Please read your "Order of Referral" carefully, as it contains valuable information about the process.
Read on to learn more.
1
How to Begin the Assessment
After reviewing the Order of Referral, you may contact Kathryn Rogers and a joint appointment will be scheduled with you and the other parent. If there is a protective order, separate appointments will be arranged.
​
All appointments will be held online with the exception of the interview with the child.
​
The first appointment is an orientation session whereby the process will be explained, questions can be answered, and subsequent appointments will be scheduled.
2
Purpose
The purpose of the child access assessment is to gather relevent information about an individual family's situation. The assessment is intended to provide the Court with information about your particular family situation. The Court will use this information, along with other information provided by each parent (either through an attorney or on your own) to proceed with the Court's decision making.
​
The Order of Referral identifies six specific areas the Court directs the assessor to consider to produce a family assessment. The focus is to identify the children's needs and each parent's ability (strengths and weaknesses) to respond to those needs. The Order of Referral also clarifies that the information generated through this process is NOT confidential, since it is requested to assist the Court in resolving a dispute.
3
What Can I Expect?
The assessment consists of five sessions and the collection of relevant information from outside sources such as teachers, day care providers, pediatricians, etc. who can assist in identifying children's needs. Psychological testing in not conducted in these assessments, but may be recommended as a result of this process.
​
Children are interviewed unless the assessor decides it is inappropriate. The assessor will determine, in each family situation, when and how the children will be interviewed to minimize stress for the children. The assessor does not come to your home. Children's appointment will occur in a child-friendly office. The assessor has no decision-making authority, but may be asked to make recommendations to the Court.
4
Options
During the process you may choose to use the information gathered during the assessment to outline areas of agreement related to future parenting responsibilities such as decision-making, living arrangements, holiday and vacation times, and guidelines for future family communication before you exit the evaluation process.
If this is your choice, the assessor will provide a written draft of the agreement and forward it to the parents and attorneys for review. This is called a Parenting Plan. If you are not represented by Counsel, you will be informed of your right to consult with an attorney to review the written Parenting Plan being proposed. This draft of a Parenting Plan may serve as a temporary basis for further discussions and resolution, or it can be submitted to the Court as a Consent Order.
​
It is also acceptable for you to choose not to generate a Parenting Plan. If this is your choice, the assessor will provide a verbal report at the next hearing before the Magistrate.
​
​
