Opinion ID: 2126789
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: clinical parenting evaluation

Text: Pursuant to the case plan, Dr. Stephen Skulsky, a clinical psychologist, conducted a psychological evaluation of Katianne to determine her capacity to parent and conducted a parent bonding assessment with Kalila and Xavier. Skulsky's assessment showed that Katianne enjoyed family interactions. She was extroverted, had a strong interest in interpersonal relationships, and had a good knowledge of socially expected and conventional behaviors. She had good underlying empathic capacities. Katianne was also assessed as having a broad range of intellectual interests, good reality testing, and a good capacity to break situations apart and put them back together into a global or overall picture of what is occurring. Skulsky concluded that Katianne was likely to be strongly bonded to her children. Also, she was able to talk about appropriate discipline for the different ages of her children and appropriate ways to show them affection, and was able to list some favorite foods, favorite activities, and developmental levels for all three of her children. Skulsky's diagnostic impression of Katianne was of an adjustment disorder with a mixture of upset feelings, which was connected to Xavier's being taken from the home. Skulsky described Katianne's biggest fear as not getting Xavier back. Katianne had told Skulsky that her happiest times in her life was when all three children were together. Skulsky concluded that [u]nder most circumstances, when not too strongly emotionally upset, [Katianne] is likely to be able to put her children's needs first. . . . When strongly emotionally stressed, she may be briefly unable to make appropriate judgments in handling her children. This constitutes a mild difficulty in [her] capacity to adequately parent. In the bonding assessment, Skulsky stated that he observed that Katianne talked and played with the children in an age-appropriate manner, that she set appropriate verbal and behavioral limits for the children, and that she demonstrated a good capacity to be warm and engaging with the children. The children warmed up to Katianne as well. Skulsky summarized in his report that Katianne could take care of and relate to her children in an appropriate manner. Because of limitations in her ability to set firm and consistent limits and make good judgments when too strongly stressed, Skulsky recommended ongoing courses of psychotherapy to further limit any concerns about difficulties in appropriate parenting. Skulsky's testimony at the termination hearing clarified that Katianne's deficiencies could be adequately addressed by 6 to 18 months of therapy. He stated that they were not the kind of more severe pervasive problems that some parents would have, where it would be years and years of therapy. Because by the time of the hearing Skulsky had not seen Katianne for approximately a year, Skulsky could not opine on whether she had adequately worked on her personality issues and underlying emotional struggles since his assessment. Skulsky could opine that Katianne was bonded to Xavier. He could not opine on whether Xavier was deeply bonded to Katianne because such an evaluation could be made only through frequent observational visits, which he had not made. Skulsky stated that if Xavier had not bonded to Katianne, but had bonded to his foster family, then it would be difficult, after 18 months, to return to Katianne. It would, however, be equally difficult for Xavier to leave his foster parents for an adoptive family to whom he was not yet bonded.