Parental competency assessment: approaches and issues

The assessment of parental competency concerns legal hearings regarding the legal and personal status of minors. The assessments ordered by judges in courts from different professionals (social workers, psychiatrists and psychologists)--are usually characterized by methodological problems affecting reliability and predictability: lack of objectivity, variability in professional approaches, personal beliefs and values of the examiners; and other intervening obstacles, such as: the influence of the subjects' expectancies and the fidelity of the professional to the one who ordered the service. These methodological problems affect the principle of the Best Interests of the Child, as well as other ethical issues. Some of the above issues have been solved by the authorities, while others still remain unsolved and beyond the Best Interest of the Child.