Opinion ID: 2639488
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Dillon C.'s teenage mental health

Text: The M.s argue that the superior court was clearly erroneous in its finding that aspects of Dillon C.'s mental health history, which involved in- and out-patient treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder in 1990, were treated and no longer an issue at the time of trial. The M.s argue that, based on later incidents in which Dillon C. shouted at co-workers (incidents for which he was dismissed from his job but later re-hired by the same employer), it was error for the court to find that Dillon C.'s mental health poses no obstacle to the custody order that the court entered. The superior court's finding was supported by the testimony of a psychologist, Dr. Harper, who evaluated Dillon C. and testified that Dillon did not suffer from a personality disorder or any other condition affecting his ability to be a parent. The finding was not clearly erroneous. The M.s attack Dr. Harper's involvement with the case on several grounds: that he gave Dillon C. the MCMI-III personality test instead of the MMPI-II test, that he read only a small part of Dillon's 500-page file from his treatment at Charter North, that he did not disclose that he was briefly involved with Dillon's treatment there, and that he was added to the witness list late. However, there was evidence that tended to show that the MCMI-III test was the more appropriate test because of Dillon's prior medical history and that Dr. Harper read the most important parts of a file that spanned five months of ongoing treatment and would have included any reports on art therapy and blood medication level checks. Moreover, the superior court denied the M.s' motion to preclude Dr. Harper from testifying at trial, finding that all parties had submitted their witness lists late, that they had known of Dr. Harper's involvement in the case for months, that the failure to disclose Dr. Harper's involvement in Dillon's 1990 treatment revealed no ethical breach but rather a memory lapse, and that the M.s' objections went to the weight of his testimony rather than its admissibility. We find no error in the superior court's treatment of the issues surrounding Dr. Harper's testimony.