When there is ongoing high conflict and potential violence between the parents, the court may choose to limit or prohibit contact with the non-custodial parent. In such cases, the court needs to know if the parents can maintain the considerable ability needed to work cooperatively which joint custody and joint decision-making require. The court does not want to make a custody decision that would maintain a high level of continuous parental conflict or hinder the parents' ability to make appropriate and timely decisions about their children. The court can use the custody evaluation to decide whether the child needs to be removed from both parents. Alternatively, the court may find support for a decision to assign custody to the battered parent based on findings from the evaluation that the victim can protect the child from the batterer.
Psychosocial evaluations provide a general history of a child and a family.
Usually produced by social workers or juvenile justice personnel, the psychosocial evaluation historically has been used to evaluate the home environment or to assess the treatment needs of the child and the family. In adoptions and foster care, the psychosocial takes the form of the home study or pre-placement report. This evaluation focuses on both the home and the family's ability to take care of a child. In permanency planning, the psychosocial evaluation looks at child and family treatment needs and the family's readiness to provide for the child. The primary evaluation question in a permanency planning matter is the extent to which the family has addressed the factors that contributed to the abuse or neglect that originally brought the family to the attention of the authorities.