Assignment Task:
For parents that are married, that no longer wishes to be involved with each other. They will normally get divorced, however what a lot of individuals don't realize is that some people will take their personal feelings and use their children as tools. Sometimes during the child custody dispute there will be someone brought in that will be a non-bias individual that will help decide a decision for the placement of the child.
Explain what areas a forensic psychology professional may likely assess when making specific recommendations involving high-profile situations (e.g., the Jolie/Pitt child custody case). Provide specific examples. Need Assignment Help?
The areas for a forensic psychology professional would be assessing the health of the parents and children. This is important in general because we will be able to evaluate the parents' mental health condition. It will also help determine which household is stable for the child. They will evaluate stability, safety, financial stability, and the possibility for harmful influences. An important one would be the communication and coparenting skills that both parents are able to do. This will help with the child's adjustment to the new living arrangements (Graham D. Glancy, 2015).
Recommend one juvenile forensic assessment instrument that the forensic professional would most likely use in deciding regarding the case.
One juvenile forensic assessment instrument that would be used would be the Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth (SAVRY). This emerged in the late 1990s and early 2000's. It is designed to evaluate the risk of violence in adolescence. It provides an insight into the risk factors to forensic psychologist to make decisions about possible interventions and management plans for the individual (Beltrani, 2025).
Provide specific guidelines for effective communication of forensic assessment findings, especially considering the high-profile status of the case. Your ability as a forensic professional to remain impartial and to maintain confidentiality should be an important consideration.
This requires clarity, professionalism and the ability to adhere to ethical guidelines. We need to be sure that we are finding evidence based of off data gathered from the case. In most cases we need to avoid personal emotions about the case. However, to be frank there needs to be some emotion when it comes to cases with children. From personal experience the courts have had overwhelming evidence with my father that was mentally abusive and left me in counseling. However, I still had to go see him for weeks at a time, despite the mental abuse and physical harm I was doing to myself.
For the means of discussion and future cases we also need to use clear and professional language that the courts would approve of. We need to avoid technical Jargon or overly complex explanations, only use facts and a logical structure as to not confuse the courts. Overall, we should always focus on the wellbeing of the child's best interests and recommend what's best for the child's well-being, safety and most importantly, developmental needs. (Beltrani, 2025)
A good example of this would be that when I was younger I had issues in school, the school recommended summer school. My mother reported this to the courts and my father did not like this. He argued with the judge that my mother was purposely keeping me away from him, despite having overwhelming evidence from the school recommending summer school. The courts ruled in my fathers favor, making me miss out on the education that I needed and making me endure mental abuse during the summer. I went to counseling and put on medication that year. My point to this is that we need to do better.
References:
- Beltrani, A. (2025). Juvenile General Violence Risk Assessments.
- Graham D. Glancy, P. A. (2015, June 15). AAPL Practice Guideline for the Forensic Assessment.