Assessing parenting competence in child protection cases: a clinical practice model

Evaluating parents in the context of possible abuse or neglect involves unique challenges. This paper describes a practice model for conducting clinical evaluations of parents' ability to care for young children (under age 8). Core features of the model include (a) a focus on parenting qualities and the parent-child relationship, (b) a functional approach emphasizing behaviors and skills in everyday performance, and (c) application of a minimal parenting standard. Several factors complicate the assessment task, namely, the absence of universally accepted standards of minimal parenting adequacy, the coercive context of the assessment, the scarcity of appropriate measures, difficulties predicting future behavior, and the likely use of the evaluation in legal proceedings. In the proposed model, the evaluator (a) clarifies specific referral questions in advance; (b) uses a multimethod, multisource, multisession approach; (c) organizes findings in terms of parent-child fit; (d) prepares an objective, behaviorally descriptive report that articulates the logic for the evaluator's clinical opinions regarding the referral questions; and (e) refrains from offering opinions regarding ultimate legal issues. The paper describes requisite skills needed to conduct parental fitness evaluations, sample methods, and a protocol for writing the evaluation report.