Advice for Court Ordered Psychological Evaluation Please?

Are you going through an investigation now? Tell your story and get feedback here.

Moderators: family_man, LindaJM

momoftwo79
Posts: 15
Joined: Tue Jul 22, 2008 2:40 am

Advice for Court Ordered Psychological Evaluation Please?

Postby momoftwo79 » Wed Aug 20, 2008 8:49 pm

I'm going in to do my Court Ordered Psychological Evaluation soon. Anyone have any advice, suggestions, or words of wisdom? This is my first time going through this, so I have no idea what to expect. Thanks again for everything, you are all a wonderful group of people! :)

User avatar
kelz03103
Posts: 145
Joined: Sun Aug 17, 2008 6:10 am
Contact:

advice

Postby kelz03103 » Thu Aug 21, 2008 8:09 am

I am in the same boat as you, my first time, do you have an attorney?, what state are you in, have you called a lawyer to ask this question? , I have the understanding, in my case , that if it is COURT ordered by a judge , or court ordered by a judge to comply with dcyf/cps , then I need to comply. I believe but I am not sure, others on the boards may know better, that you can tape your meeting with the doctor,/evaluator, also you may want to keep your own written notes. sorry I cant be more help, wish you luck , ~Kelz~

MaggieC

Postby MaggieC » Thu Aug 21, 2008 10:25 am

If the eval was ordered b ythe court, then you must comply or be in contempt of court (you don't want to be there).
BUT-
my strongest suggestion to yo uwould be to have another independent eval done by a doctor of your choosing. If the court-ordered eval comes up negative then you will have another eval with which to combat it.

Socialworker
Posts: 50
Joined: Fri Jul 25, 2008 2:50 pm

Postby Socialworker » Thu Aug 21, 2008 11:33 am

MaggieC wrote:If the eval was ordered b ythe court, then you must comply or be in contempt of court (you don't want to be there).
BUT-
my strongest suggestion to yo uwould be to have another independent eval done by a doctor of your choosing. If the court-ordered eval comes up negative then you will have another eval with which to combat it.



If at all possible, find a doctor that has testified in court hearings before. There tends to be more weight given to docs who have testified or given written statements to courts before.

debbiescalese
Posts: 460
Joined: Thu Jun 28, 2007 4:55 am
Location: WV

Postby debbiescalese » Thu Aug 21, 2008 1:08 pm

1) you have the right to have the psych eval done by a person of your choosing even if they are paying for it!! don't go to one of thier choosing. They usually do a hatchet job for cps.
2) find somebody in your area that had one done there and see what thier opinion of that evaluator is.

* remember sometimes these things sound worse on paper than what they are. What a psych eval is, its a snap shot of that person at that time and place. For example mine said I was angry well yeah I had to leave my nursing new born to go to this thing and I had never left him before. I was also angry I was having to go through this shit in the first place. Yeah I was angry.

trappedinwreakage
Posts: 72
Joined: Thu Feb 22, 2007 10:56 am
Location: NY State

Postby trappedinwreakage » Thu Aug 21, 2008 3:05 pm

Good thing to stay away from but as said you have no choice. In retrospect I personally wish I had of demanded evals for my case workers, the CPS "attorney, the "legal gardian", a few sherrifs and the judge, but that would have been just to see the jaws drop in court.

If its correct what Debbie says, go to someone else, stay away from "their guy/woman". He butchered my entire family and we were not allowed to have copies of our own evals. The first thing he asked for was our SS#'s, I had a fit right then and there, I knew damn well what they do with them, it goes in a file somewhere attached to your social security number. There is no one but possibly the coolest person that can be under the gun of CPS and pull a good psych eval.

I will give the guy credit for one thing... it said something along the lines of "appears to be smarter than average and is highly volitile but given the circumstances of his current situation this seems understandable" None the less I did not like other things that were said about myself or my wife and daughter, he was wrong about alot of things and I did not like the line of questions what so ever.

Regardless of where you go, think long and hard about your answers, Consider how they can be interpreted, then answer as breifly and innocently as possible. Keep your cool, myself I was livid but thats me and I care not, I had a point to get across, which I did but little good it did me.

Two questions that still stand out to me were

Have you ever thought about killing somebody
and
Have you ever thought about suicide

obviously swift NO answers to both go along ways

what else
count backward from 100 in intervals of 7 (or something along those lines) what ever thats supposed to prove. I cant remember all the others now.

but that was our "test", we started out about explaining the situation that led to this "event" of being involved with these.... whatever they are.

GOOD LUCK.... Lord knows you need it

momoftwo79
Posts: 15
Joined: Tue Jul 22, 2008 2:40 am

Re: Advice for Court Ordered Psychological Evaluation Please

Postby momoftwo79 » Thu Aug 21, 2008 3:25 pm

I live in Northern Virginia, though I just took my Court Ordered Psychological Evaluation in Fredricksburg (over an hour away) today that I paid for out of my own pocket since the one that the social worker got for us for September won't be able to get his report back before our court date. We were told that we wouldn't get our kids back until we did a DFS Approved Court-Ordered psych eval, so I've been super pro-active and pretty much doing everything on my own since the social worker & co. seem to be dragging their feet on everything. Advice for anyone else in a similiar situation - call around in advance since these people can be booked out for months. Typically their next appointment was for Dec, but I asked to be put on a waiting list for any last minute cancellations, and that's how I got to be seen today. So if it seems bleak, don't give up, ask to be put on a waiting list and keep your fingers crossed.

The psych exam wasn't quite what I expected. I imagined a lot of inkblots and got none, but that was a good thing. I learned that the inkblot test is used if they suspect you have some maniac disorder or bi-polar or something not good.

They had us take an IQ Test as well as personality test. Brush up on your vocabulary words - they had us define some words as well as ask us what things had in common. They also had us arrange cubes into patterns.

There was the usual interview where they go over your family history, medical history, etc to get to know more about you and why you're getting this. They have you take a lot of tests and ask a lot of questions, some of them are kind of odd. They also had us take quizzes about how we feel about being a parent and how we feel about our kids.

It's an all day affair. We started around 9am, had a 30 minute lunch, and was done around 4pm.

Not sure how it is in other areas, but I wish everyone luck with it!

momoftwo79
Posts: 15
Joined: Tue Jul 22, 2008 2:40 am

Re: Advice for Court Ordered Psychological Evaluation Please

Postby momoftwo79 » Thu Aug 21, 2008 3:37 pm

Also, call around and compare prices, especially since most Insurances won't cover Court-Ordered Psychological Evaluations. One of the places we called told us I'd have to give him a $10,000 retainer and depending on long it went, it could possibly cost more.

$10,000!!! I kid you not!!! Now THAT doctor should get a psych eval for trying to charge that much! Even my lawyer didn't ask for a retainer close to that amount.

The one we saw today charged us a flat $850 per person (we each had to do a psych eval). We get the results next week and if they're good results and anyone wants their contact info, I'd be happy to pass them on. If they look bad and all rigged, I will post a warning up for others.

Thanks again for all the replies! Good luck and best wishes everyone!

MaggieC

Postby MaggieC » Thu Aug 21, 2008 3:41 pm

In the event of a lawsuit (you suing them in the future) -please be sure to keep receipts of every single expenditure.

Michael
Posts: 331
Joined: Wed Dec 01, 2004 6:11 pm
Location: East Central District

Cost of Psychologicial Assessment/eval.

Postby Michael » Thu Aug 21, 2008 4:12 pm

The usual cost is areound $650.00 to 8:50. This includes the testing, evaluation and written report containing recommendations. To appear in court cost extra, depending on the time spent waiting and time on the stand.

If you go this route be sure and find a professional that is accepted as a "expert" by the court. In my area there is one that a lot of people go to and pay and the courts will not accept his reports.

Marina
Moderator
Posts: 5496
Joined: Sat Feb 25, 2006 3:06 pm

Postby Marina » Thu Aug 21, 2008 4:15 pm

I have posted links in the psychiatry section on this.

There are 2 types of evaluations:

forensic evaluation
clinical evaluation

Ask the evaluator for their qualifications.

A forensic evaluation if for fact-finding, or a fishing expedition. The evaluator uses information from several people, including the "client." The evaluator is an "agent" of the court. They are immune from liability. They get information from the social worker, etc. A forensic evaluator should meet certain qualifications. Search your state's government website to see if anything comes up.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forensic_psychology

A clinical evaluation is for the purpose of treatment. The questions and diagnoses asked will change, as the patient progresses. The treating psychologist is liable for malpractice.

All of them have to go by the book to get Medicaid funding. So the questions go by the book.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DSM-IV



Forensic psychologists wrongly use these tests. A clinical psychologist will use a diagnosis for a while, then change it, then come up with a new diagnosis, etc. Answering one question a certain way does not make you paranoid, but they don't care. A judge has a metal detector and armed guards around him, how paranoid is that?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DSM-IV_Codes

Some people refuse to sign the consent form when they get in there.

Some people get a copy of just the questions and answers, and show it to the judge, to show how the evaluator twists everything around.

trappedinwreakage
Posts: 72
Joined: Thu Feb 22, 2007 10:56 am
Location: NY State

Postby trappedinwreakage » Thu Aug 21, 2008 5:35 pm

$650-$850 ???? You have got to be kidding me, I would flat out refuse that and believe I would be within my rights. NO one has a right to tell anybody how, when, and where they WILL spend their money or the governments money for that matter !!! The governments money is OUR money

So people, you can see clearly the intents of all this nonsence. Its to support these professions that people didnt even need 50 years ago. Again I ask, how on earth did humanity ever survive the centuries without these "superheros for a day" ?

When I went to the "counselor" twice, against my beliefs, I asked how much it cost, because I felt guilty, like welfare having them pay for "my services", she told me $75 an hour, I stopped going. I cant make that kind of money and refuse to support those that think they are worth such.

This whole thing is such a big joke, a big sick, bad joke. Money grubbers, all of them, cha ching, cha ching, listen to the money talk

jaslken
Posts: 29
Joined: Wed May 30, 2007 7:44 am

Postby jaslken » Sat Aug 23, 2008 7:00 am

One thing I would advise... TAPE the session!!!I taped my session with the court ordered psych and have him on tape telling me he thought I was fit to raise my daughter... then his court report stated I was NOT fit!!! Have it on tape and the judge would not listen to the tape... but I put his exact statements on my court motion and have it on record!


Return to “CPS Investigations”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 21 guests