How to Cooperate With A Guardian Ad Litem Investigation

Once a Guardian Ad Litem has been assigned to your case, find out in advance what the evaluator's procedures will be so that you can prepare yourself emotionally as well as with any collateral information you wish to introduce into the evaluation. An example of such information is a list of people with whom you'd like the evaluator to speak. Once you know what to expect, you will be more comfortable with the process. Generally, evaluations will consist of some combination of the following:

• Meeting with each parent and each child alone to learn family history, individual developmental histories, concerns, and desires for the outcome of the dispute, strengths and weaknesses and how each parent thinks about the child individually.

• Observing parent and child interactions to ascertain their relationship. The evaluator often makes observations in each home so that the child is comfortable and the situation is as realistic as can be given the anxiety-filled circumstances.

• Speaking with others who know the parties, especially the children.

• Psychological assessment using standardized and open-ended questionnaires.

• Assessing extended family and community networks of family members through discussion with family members, community sources and/or observation.

  The methods used in an evaluation are designed to provide the Court with information it needs to determine a child's best interests when the parents cannot make the decisions for themselves. The concept of child custody evolved over the years from a presumption in favor of fathers to one in favor of mothers throughout the 1800's, with the term "Best Interests of the Child" introduced in 1881. In response to changing social conditions that have brought more parity in social roles between men and women, gender is no longer viewed as the basis for deciding child custody.

  Judges now give different weight to several factors that have been delineated as important. The Court will consider any and all of the following factors: the quality of the emotional ties between each parent and child, the capacity of each parent to love, educate, guide and raise the child; the capacity of each parent to provide food, clothes and medical care; each parent's special abilities and particular disabilities, the psychological functioning and developmental needs of the child, whether you're dealing with an angry child, the child's need for stability and continuity with regard to past living conditions, the parent's values regarding parenting, the potential for inappropriate behavior or misconduct that might negatively influence a child, a parent's capacity to encourage the other parent's relationship with the child and the wishes of the child when the child is of sufficient age to articulate a well-reasoned preference.