Child Abuse

Child abuse evaluations are comprehensive psychological evaluations court-ordered after a child makes an allegation of physical or sexual abuse, or when there is strong suspicion of physical or sexual abuse. They involve testing, self-report measures, clinical interviews of the child and parent(s), a forensic interview of the child, and review of collateral information. Although each evaluation is tailored to the needs of a particular case, child abuse evaluations are designed to assess factors bearing on competency, credibility, and  reactions to trauma. Recommendations can be made to address accommodations for testimony, custody and visitation with abusive and non-offending parents, and appropriate family-level interventions or treatment for the child. We use evidence-based measures and avoid assessment strategies that undermine the credibility of allegations made during the evaluation process or thereafter. However, we are willing to work with referral sources to adapt to the needs of an individual child or family; for example, by breaking the evaluation into a few sessions to increase comfort with the examiner or by seeing all members of a sibling group in one or two sessions.