Parenting Capacity

Conclusions

Nothing concerning the current status of these custody and abuse/neglect instruments would contradict the general recommendation that forensic examiners should avoid conclusory opinions concerning whether a particular parent is or is not competent to care for a particular child, or which of two parents should receive custody of a child. In general, the instruments do not provide a direct empirical indication of present or future functional ability. Further, current instruments will not provide empirical descriptions of the congruency or incongruency between a parent’s abilities and a particular child’s needs. Finally, they address only one factor–characteristics of parents–among many that must be taken into consideration in clinical or legal decisions about a child’s living arrangements.