When Form Fails to Follow Function: Benjamin and Gollan's Family Evaluation in Custody Litigation.

Benjamin and Gollan's (2003) new primer on conducting child custody evaluations, published by the American Psychological Association, presents the authors' flawed evaluation protocol with little discussion of the risks and benefits of the practices they advocate. The authors fail to notewhere theirmodel varies significantly from the custody evaluation guidelines required by law in some states, and promulgated by various professional organizations. The most troubling practices include not interviewing and assessing pre-adolescent children, destroying videotapes of interviews and observation sessions, organizing the evaluation around parental allegations, use of a suggestive allegation checklist, and limiting consideration of information from collateral witnesses to declarations submitted under penalty of perjury. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]