We examine relevant interviews, records, and testing. Together, these sources help us understand parenting strengths, concerns, and the child’s needs.
When concerns arise about a parent’s ability to meet a child’s needs, a careful evaluation can provide clarity. We examine parenting strengths, concerns, and family circumstances to provide clearly reasoned findings that support informed decisions.
A parental fitness evaluation is a structured assessment of a parent’s ability to meet a child’s needs. It considers parenting skills, psychological functioning, and factors that may affect safety and stability.
The findings may inform decisions about custody, visitation, reunification, or child safety. However, the specific questions addressed depend on the referral and any court requirements.
UCPS provides parental fitness evaluations in Salt Lake City for custody disputes, child welfare cases, and court-ordered assessments. These cases often raise questions about a parent’s ability to provide a safe, stable environment and meet a child’s needs.
To address these concerns, we assess parenting capacity, mental health, substance use, and relevant family circumstances. We also examine strengths and areas where support may be needed. Our findings provide clear, evidence-based information to support informed decisions.
Parental fitness evaluations are typically requested in situations such as:
These evaluations focus on a parent’s capacity to meet a child’s physical, emotional, and psychological needs, rather than determining custody arrangements directly.
A parental fitness evaluation examines multiple areas to build a complete and accurate picture of functioning.
This typically includes:
The evaluation considers patterns across multiple areas, rather than relying on a single data point or test.
We discuss your history, parenting experiences, concerns raised in the referral, and what to expect.
You complete standardized tests. These help assess psychological functioning & factors that may affect your ability to meet your child’s needs.
We review relevant records and speak with others when appropriate. These sources provide context about your history, parenting, and family circumstances.
We observe you and your child together to understand communication, responsiveness, and interaction patterns.
We prepare a report explaining the findings, conclusions, and recommendations. It addresses the referral questions and identifies parenting strengths, concerns, and support needs.
Parental fitness evaluations can inform decisions with lasting effects on children and families. For this reason, we use a thorough, balanced assessment process and explain how the evidence supports our conclusions.
We examine relevant interviews, records, and testing. Together, these sources help us understand parenting strengths, concerns, and the child’s needs.
We consider information that supports or challenges the concerns raised. When evidence is incomplete, we explain the limitations rather than draw unsupported conclusions.
We distinguish assessment results from our interpretation. As a result, courts, attorneys, and other professionals can follow the reasoning behind our opinions.
Professional resource: Specialty Guidelines for Forensic Psychology from the American Psychological Association.
Parental fitness evaluations are private pay. Insurance does not cover the cost of these evaluations.
For additional payment information, visit our Fees & Insurance page.
Flat fee
Comprehensive assessment and written report.
Optional additional component
Added when a violence risk assessment is needed as part of the evaluation.
If you have been referred for a parental fitness evaluation in Salt Lake City or need additional information, we are available to discuss your situation and next steps.
Schedule a parental fitness evaluation or contact our office to learn more.
These evaluations are commonly requested by courts, attorneys, guardians ad litem, or child welfare agencies.
No. The evaluation provides information to the court, but custody decisions are made by the judge.
Most evaluations involve multiple components and may take several hours, depending on the complexity of the case. Typically, these evaluations take 4 to 6 weeks.
No. Parental fitness evaluations focus on one parent’s functioning and capacity, not custody determinations between parents.