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Standards For Supervised Visitation Practice

6.0 Evaluations & Recommendations

6.1 Purpose

This section defines the limits for providing an assessment, evaluation, and/or recommendation concerning the treatment, future visitation arrangements, and/or child custody determinations. Specifically, the section prohibits a provider from performing any mental health, custody, parenting, developmental and/or attachment assessment and evaluation that more appropriately should be provided by a licensed mental health professional. This includes drawing conclusions and/or making recommendations about future visitation arrangements or child custody determinations.

6.2 General Policy

  1. A provider must not perform any mental health or other evaluations or assessments unless as specifically noted in sections 6.3 and 6.4 below.
  2. Supervised visitation services must function independently from a licensed or certified mental health professional or other professional who is performing a mental health, custody, parenting, developmental and/or attachment assessment and evaluation.
  3. A provider must not make recommendations or state opinions about future visitation arrangements and/or child custody determinations.
  4. This policy does not prohibit a provider from providing factual information based on observations of clients which may be used by others who are conducting an evaluation and/or assessment. 

6.3 Risk Assessments

A provider may review and analyze client information and behavior to determine whether services can be provided safely and/or to deny or suspend services because of potential risks of harm to a client or staff member.

6.4 Therapeutic Supervised Visitation Exception

A licensed mental health professional who is providing therapeutic supervised visitation may prepare a written report that demonstrates a parent's commitment or readiness for treatment and may include a professional opinion about parent/child readiness to enter the next phase of treatment. Any such report must not include an opinion or recommendation about child custody/access determinations.