There are several components to an
assessment but certainly the elemental interview will subject you to
a series of questions which can either appear conventional and
non-threatening or if you are nervous to entrust your future to the
psychologist who administers the test, they will be unsettling and
worrisome.
Interestingly, the psychologist
engaged by Child Protection does not necessarily develop the questions
unilaterally but often a case worker or a team of child protection case
workers suggests the questions for which they would want to have
answers. The parents are customarily presented with these questions in
advance of the meeting with the psychologist. If you have had a CPA done, do these questions reflect your
experience?
Keeping in mind that this is an
assessment of capability to parent, rather than an assessment of
parents' relationship with the MCFD Director and protection workers,
what questions would be appropriate to ask parents whose parental
capabilities are in question? Here
are sample questions that might be posed to the Baynes given their
family story and their relationship with MCFD over the past 3.5
years.
- I am sure that SWs want to hear how convincingly parents can express their desire and ability to care for their four children, so that is a question that would be asked.
- Can the parents express assurances that they are able to and determined to provide reasonable safety from injury for their children?
- Can the parents supply substantive evidence that they possess the necessary resources to securely parent four children (resources: financial, residential, family relationships, community)?
- Do the parents believe that they not only can but that they will work collaboratively with the Ministry to make certain the safety and health of their children?
- Do the parents have a reliable and responsive resource network upon which they can and will call when and if the demands of parenting four children after 3.5 years without them, becomes strained?
- Are these parents able to present a demonstrable plan for a home setting, facilities and environment/atmosphere that speaks effectively to child safety, practicality and health?
- Have the parents adequately considered the needs of their children, specially a child with a special need, and are they capable of attending to these needs?
- When and if one of the children has an appointment with a medical professional for any reason, can the parents provide assurance that they will listen to and follow medical recommendations concerning that child’s needs?
- Do the parents express an openness and a willingness to follow forthcoming recommendations with regard to further requisite activities and/or resources that will possibly derive from the Parental Capability Assessment?
Since the court case from start to
judge's conclusion spanned an entire year and since the court case
was initiated by the Ministry of Children and Family Development and
since MCFD demonstrated with many verifiable examples an aggressive
and adversarial posture against the Baynes for three years, and since
the ruling by Judge Crabtree did not accept the MCFD allegation that
the Baynes had shaken their baby, at no time can it be appropriate to
ask certain questions. This is an assessment of parenting capacity. Therefore, it cannot be appropriate or acceptable for the psychologist on behalf
of MCFD SWs to ask anything that may require parents to comment upon whether they are a lesser risk now, or more responsible and safety conscious today than they were three years ago. That was a court matter already and the parents' position was that they were not at risk three years ago. Nor is it appropriate to ask whether they have been to any degree responsible for discord with MCFD since that has relationship to inherent parenting capacity.
And if you are a parent who has gone
through one of these assessments, did you receive the questions prior to
answering them, and was your lawyer permitted to contest the use of
any question that was deemed inappropriate? And are these questions similar to those asked of you? Or were there other kinds of questions?
My Lawyer Explained just how these parental assesments can be played with especially thier Psychologist`s interpretations!
ReplyDeleteIt could be better to remain silent at most times.
please elaborate if you can
DeleteAnonymous Feb 20, 2012 04:08 PM
DeleteIt is unlikely that the Anon who wrote the above comment to which you made your request, will see this and respond. However, you asked another question in a later comment in this chain, so please look there because I have asked Alison to comment and perhaps she will have time to do this. You notice I trust that her comment was almost one year ago.
I think the government needs a parental capacity assessment. After all, they are the ones whose children (in "care") seem to be subject to a high rate of abuse and death. When will they be held accountable for their bad parenting? When will they be subject to what a US judge calls the "equivalent of the death penalty" (i.e., the termination of parental rights).
ReplyDeleteThe whole business is so horribly Orwellian. What a way to make a living.
As a student social worker, I had the opportunity to read one parenting capacity assessment during my practicum with MCFD. However, it was prepared by Dr. Paul Eirikson, not Dr. Bowden. In this particular instance, the parent has a diagnosis of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, which is the source of the doubt for parenting capacity.
ReplyDeleteThe MCFD referral questions included the following:
1. Review of documentation & files @MCFD office, specifically a review of reports from Project Parent.
2. Intellectual testing.
3. Home visit & analysis of family interaction parents, the roles & relationships & family members focusing specifically on the health & safety of the children.
4. Assessment of parents 'benefit ability' to benefit from parenting interventions on a short & long term basis.
5. Interviews to include parents, ministry social worker, foster parents, Project Parent worker and Support worker from the Band (family is Aboriginal).
Also included in the referral questions in the report was the parents referral question, which was regarding the return of the children to their care.
A big part of the report was the interview with the parent, including personal history, parenting plan, services for parenting, drug & alcohol history/current situation, criminal history, the children, psychological functioning/mental status/behavioural observations, & psychological testing.
I don't know if these subtitles were specific to this particular assessment, or if they are typical of most assessments.
where can i find out about more queston s in an assessment
DeleteAnonymous Feb 20, 2012 04:06 PM
DeleteI have asked Alison to comment and perhaps she will have time to do this. You notice I trust that her comment was almost one year ago.
Unfortunately, no, I do not know any more about Parental Capacity Assessments now than I did as a student. The one thing I DO know is that they cost a LOT of money (around 6K), and so are not used very often. I would hazard a guess that the social worker and team leader could customize the referral questions to the specific case, i.e., if parental capacity was in question due to a diagnosis of FAS, then an IQ test would be requested, but perhaps not always.
DeleteTypically, at least in the US, a full battery psychological assessment, like the MMPI II, is used. Further evaluations include test designed to ferret out parental attachment and risk factors, if abuse is in question. Studies indicate that past history, and the interviews conducted with parents and collaterals, play more role in findings than any standardized test mechanisms.
DeleteThank you Alison for the helpful information
ReplyDeleteI am in Ontario, so my experience might be a bit different. I had a parenting capacity assessment done. The process was like this:
ReplyDeletea) interviews with myself, the social worker, and my parents
b) phone interview with some support services we had been involved with
c) home visit (where the children lived but I did not) with interaction..
d) two clinical surveys, which apparently told the assessor everything she wanted to know
I did poorly on it, maybe due to the situation at the time. But I felt at the time (and still do) that the assessor didn't take a lot of the issues I was trying to deal with into consideration and didn't look at the situation and all of the factors involved.
An assessment is only as good as the assessor and from what I read about the assessor I had is that she tends to write her assessments in the same way, and about 95% of the time will recommend the parents losing their children to the courts.
Alison, could I have your contact information? I'm doing a literature review on parenting capacity and I would like to interview you or send some questions.
ReplyDeleteThank you. MM
I am curious as to whp has ever passd a parent capacity assessment
ReplyDeleteIm trying to find infirmation on what to expect on this evaluation. Im taking it on april 4.2014... Ive asked numerius amounts of times if the people who watched me interact. with my son now is 9months if they think i handel him approperatly. Ive been told since day one by case worker and many others they dont think my ability to raise my son is an issue in the care of his milestones and feeding and so on..but they still insisiting that i have this evalution. Its routine i been told. Also no one wants to even tell me what to expect. There issue is they r worried at first i might relapse but since they couldnt find any evidence to suplort that now they r goin after my mental health because i recieve ssi...i have anxiety..i like to jbow since when does that mean u cant take of a child and also at time i was grated the ssi my life and living was drasticaly diffrent from now..no one seems to hear me at the many evalutions ive hax and they all seem to b very generic and seems lime jyst the name at top was changed...i hope this is different
ReplyDeleteCathie
ReplyDeleteHi. Does anyone know of an assessor who does not support CAS' desire to take children from good homes, and who would do assesment at very low cost, and lives in Toronto area?? My email is cathiemichener@gmail.com. My husband and I who are separated had to go through this crazy process. I also found that the assessor did not consider any of the issues i was dealing with at the time, and was very harsh in her assessment, even though she came across as very nice and motherly. All of my testing was valid, but overall I "failed" the assessment. Not easy being critiqued on your parenting for 8 hours by someone who had just met you. It is a very humilating and horrible thing to be evaluated as being unfit after all the work I have done as a mother, from a abusive marriage at times, of 4 beautiful boys. I agree with the person who said that the government needs an assessment, the CAS, and the psychologists who do these awful things. It is maybe needed in very extreme cases, but parents aren't perfect, and if they can provide the necessities of life, love, and are trying that should be enough!
Cathi, It is fortunate that I happened to be looking carefully at comments and noticed yours, attached to this May 3, 2011 posting … I’m amazed to have seen it. I will send your note to a colleague. I have no idea what he can advise you to do, but he may have something to say.
DeleteHi I went through the same thing I failed found another doctor to evaluate the test.
DeleteThe guy I had got had done work with cas as well. He said that the person who did my test was using test that were no longer vaild and felt that he only took the word of the workers instead of doing the right procedures if you want more info e-mail at ashie-76@outlook.com .
Does anyone find a good assessor in Toronto area to do an independent PCA without a lot of expense? I am being assessed by a psychologist hired by CAS and I do not feel positive so far
Deletei have a PCA requested on my behalf due to my children being in an out of care since all four children were still toddlers and so on i am at the end with the agency i have given up my last child for adoption to a close friend of mine and had my kids reprehended and so i am wondering if it is something they do to fail parents or if anyone has ever had a good experience i am in a residential treatment center that houses moms an there kids .and can advocate for me i am a great parent and have taken on so many programs to know how to parent positively just had struggles in the past i am nervous for the PCA to come back bad even though i am in a different place in my life now an they do seek permanent order after this PCA
ReplyDeleteYou do realize do you Anonymous July 9, 2015 at 2:33 PM, that the post to which you are responding is four years old? Take a look at the date at the top. I am not even sure that you will look back again here to find a response, but if you are that sincere, and you see this … then comment once again, I will be sent notice and I will take you seriously and respond to you, and maybe with the help of a friends who knows more about these things than I do.
DeleteYou do realize do you Anonymous July 9, 2015 at 2:33 PM, that the post to which you are responding is four years old? Take a look at the date at the top. I am not even sure that you will look back again here to find a response, but if you are that sincere, and you see this … then comment once again, I will be sent notice and I will take you seriously and respond to you, and maybe with the help of a friends who knows more about these things than I do.
ReplyDeleteI live in the USA in a small town in WV. They had me take a parental fitness eval and of course I failed but I got a second opinion and wow I passed that one I have also been approved as a foster parent and have had children placed in my home.. My husband and I are fighting for our grandchild and now 6 months later when they have nothing else to use against us they want my husband to undergo a parental fitness eval but this time we are ahead of the game we will go to one of ore choosing and pay out of pock for we believe that the ones that cps does is corrupt and a conflict of intrest
ReplyDeletewayne .. hey I am a dad of five girls one of them autistic and we had traveled in a truck to keep moving while home schooling the girls once in a house we were case filed by child protection and they have decided to go with the mom after a forced break up the problem that I am having is the fact that no dad has ever been so close with a bunch of kids as I and I had basically raised them on my own now separated for over half of a year they want me to do the assessment for the court and from what I read 95% of the time they recommend against the parent in question is there a recommendation for betterment of situation as to please the courts I mean what do they look for I can only be the dad that I am theirs. So if you are truthful and your self you fail but if you study to mimic what they want you pass ? tell you what I will check this site in a couple of days just to see if there is any good advice have a great night
ReplyDeleteThere is no short or easy answer to your situation. I do not think a PC is the most important thing to go on, but I will tell you about them anyway. A parental capacity assessment should be a fact based report with as little room for subjective opinion as possible. 'The facts should speak for themselves. There are very few reliable guidelines foe PCA reports. In the part or Canada where I live the college of psychologists has no guidelines and neither does the college of social workers. The law society does have guidelines and they specifically state that psychologists are not qualified to do parental capacity reports without further training and mentoring. They also state that psychometric testing should not be a routine part of an assessment and should only be used in special cases. Regardless of guidelines and training, the only true protection for the public is in the skills and integrity of the assessor. Facts should be sought like level of schooling, job training, work history, marital history and any history of alcohol and drug abuse, or any criminal record. Also telling the truth about the negatives in your life. Right away I would want to talk about your statement that you were travelling in a truck to keep moving. This looks like serious instability to me. You would need to convince an assessor that you were capable of finding and maintaining a decent home for six people and capable of maintaining them. I do not know the age of your girls, but if I were you or your representative, I would want to have them interviewed to find out what they want. If the authorities decide to leave them with their mother, I would want to know that the girls have been interviewed by a third party to find out if they want to keep in touch with you on a regular basis. Ray Ferris
DeleteHello Anon Aug 21 2017/Wayne - I will refer your note to a colleague. He may be able to respond. It is always a surprise to read someone responding to a post that is two years old or older.
ReplyDeleteRay Ferris who wrote above is my colleague - listen to him
DeleteDoes anyone here knows a good assessor/psychologist who does parental capacity assessment here in BC Lower Mainland? My friend is contesting not to take PCA test in court and is looking for an unbiased assessment.
ReplyDeleteHello Anon Sept 20 at 7:48am ---------- this person may have some info to share, you can write to ashie-76@outlook.com ---------- tell your request and ask for help. You have responded to an article that is 6 years old (2011) so I hope you find this again
Deletewhat happens if u don't pass the test I have mine on dec 13 an im so scard as hell the cas says im amazing mom so is there away u can study for this
ReplyDeleteTami, you cannot afford to be afraid or give the the impression that you have anything to be afraid about. I want you to look back among the comments above to Ray Ferris’ response to someone else. There’s some sound counsel there. He is a veteran worker within child projection and knows his stuff. I advise you to be honest in responses. Don’t offer information that is not asked for. Read Ray Ferris.
ReplyDeleteTami, I want you reread the post above to which you responded. Also here are some other posts written at different times pertaining to parental assessment.https://ronunruhgps.blogspot.ca/2011/12/parental-capacity-assessments.html
Deletehttps://ronunruhgps.blogspot.ca/2011/12/sample-questions-for-parental-capacity.html
Deletethat link just sent is sample questions on parental capacity
DeletePARENTAL CAPACITY ASSESSMENTS (1st of 2 parts)
DeleteParental Capacity assessments (1st of 2 parts)
Written by Ray Ferris. Ray Ferris is a retired child-protection worker and the author of The Art of Child Protection and occasional contributor to this GPS blog.
Parental capacity assessments, or PCAs are the sacred cows of the family courts. Neither the courts, nor the lawyers nor the social workers understand the parameters and limitations of these assessments. So for the benefit of any readers who may be at the mercy of the MCF I will give you the basics.
PCAs are one of a related group of family studies, which require the same skills to accomplish. These are adoption home studies, foster home studies, custody and access reports, general social assessments and risk assessments. All these studies should be carefully compiled and factual family histories done with the emphasis on normal social functioning. Families who have normal educational achievements, good work records and stable housing do not suddenly change their natures and haul off and injure kids or become negligent. One needs to know the risk factors such as parents, who have poor education, poor work records, poor financial histories, serial marital relationships, histories of alcohol and drug abuse, family violence and so on.
I am grateful to Zabeth Bayne for digging up good guidelines for me. These are not issued by the professions of psychology or social work. Neither the college of psychologists nor their association has guidelines for parental capacity assessments and the same goes for social work. The guidelines come from the Law Society in its online education program. They clearly state that psychologists are not qualified to do PCAs without further mentored training. Yet psychologists are hired all the time to do them and they follow no firm guidelines. Guidelines also only recommend psychometric testing in special cases. Also that any psychometric testing should not be done be the same person who does the parental capacity assessment.
Now we have the courts leaving it all to psychologists to determine the outcome of cases. Judges abandon their judicial responsibilities and leave it all on the shoulders of untrained psychologists. Usually the ministry pays for these assessments, and it is well known that so-called expert opinion favours the hand that pays. Repeat business may be in mind. (contact me if you have a question, rtferris@telus.net.)
Parental Capacity assessments (2nd of 2 parts)
DeleteWritten by Ray Ferris. Ray Ferris is a retired child-protection worker and the author of The Art of Child Protection and occasional contributor to this GPS blog.
Let me tell you about a recent case in Victoria family court. A parental capacity assessment was done under contract to the director. This document completely dominated all the judge’s decisions. The PCA was full of serious flaws and I list them below.
1. The psychologist took five months to do the report, claiming it was necessary to read thousands of pages of legal documents. He did no such thing. He read reams of ministry records that he had no business doing because it made him clearly partial and he is supposed to be impartial.
2. He stated he followed standard guidelines, but he failed to state whose guidelines.
3. He stated he was an expert witness before the court. He was not. An expert witness has to be qualified at a court hearing and his expertise can be challenged. His testimony has to stand up to examination and cross-examination under due process.
4. Under section 64 (2) b of the CF&CSA the judge may consider any written submission or documents he considers relevant. So legally a PCA has no more standing than say a school report or a letter of support for a parent.
5. In soliciting input from other professionals such as psychologists and registered counsellors he misrepresented himself. He said he was doing a court ordered assessment. He was under contract to the director.
6.Because of this misrepresentation others felt obliged to share information, which they would otherwise not have done. One of them stated that had he known, he would have not considered him to be impartial and would have been reluctant to help him. ( In one Vancouver case, the judge did not trust the PCA ordered by the ministry, nor the one contracted by the parent and so he ordered his own to be done. Speaks for itself. )
7. The parent sent relevant sections of the PCA to all the professionals who were quoted. They all provided letters confirming that he had misrepresented himself and made a number of changes to their information so that it was skewed in favour of the director. Some of them specifically asked him if he was audio recording the telephone interviews He said he was not, so they took careful notes of what they said. He presented their input as verbatim in his report and so misled the court.
Conclusion. I could go on, but that is enough for a blog. I write this for those readers who may be suffering from a surfeit of parental capacity assessments. I hope this information is of help to you in instructing your lawyers how to deal with these reports, because most lawyers swallow the psychobabble and do not know how to challenge it. Do not hesitate to contact me if you need help with this sort of problem, rtferris@telus.net
Thank you for the info. Can you give me some advice on how to choose a non-bias examiner? I have a 14 year old CPS history in another state. I lost parental rights because I went to prison. I took in the 18 yr old son from that case, when he aged out of care. He tried to steal my car and when caught, made false allegations to CPS, claiming I was abusing his younger, autistic half-brother. These statements were made from a psychiatric facility, where he was involuntarily committed by a law enforcement officer. My past history is a huge black eye and none of the positive changes over the past 14 years seem to be considered. The state even took my son from his father, who has no past history of anything. I was going to take this to trial, but was strong armed into a mediation agreement. The agreement places my son back with his father, in our beautiful home. The catch? I have to move out. Nothing substantiates the claims made by the older son. Nothing. My relationship with my child, my future, my whole life is at the mercy of this assessment. I am familiar with APA best practice guidelines but any other advice would be appreciated. I am terrified my past will dictate my future. It is crazy that CPS is the only entity that can base a case on a person's past. We are protected from this in the criminal justice system.
DeleteI have my parent capacity coming up in 2 weeks and I go back to court in April we are still at 3 party visits because we have to wait to complete the parenting capacity first and that will tell us in court if we get unsupervised or not what happens if you fail it or don't understand the questions does that mean you won't get your kids back it has been a year now since we haven't has our kids and we have been doing everything I'm just so worried and scared I'm going to fail this parenting capacity test because I did poorly on my physchological and i wanna do the best I can because all I want is my family back and for all of us to be happy
ReplyDeleteI just wrote a book about my corrupt and horrifying treatment I have received after losing my son 8months ago I so desperately want to be hurt and social workers their supervisors and office managers every decision audited it's seriously far too corrupt families getting ruined over stupid grudges held and abuse if their power I should have my son home months ago I have fixed all mistakes I made without support or and praise nothing but negative comments and everything made to look far from true now they had nothing left on Methey have added new requirement to report wanting me to complete neuropsychological assessment I am certain I can ace it honestly but after getting ready for whayto expect and recalling everything on this page I am scared that it's going to be corrupted
ReplyDeleteMarch 14th please tell me how assessment went and that you passed and have your family home and are now able to get on with your lives because I'm living my worth nightmare and getting dragged though hell
ReplyDeleteSorry I should have proof read comments before posting really the least of my worries
DeleteActually parental capacity tests are a joke. They take your children away for months sometimes years and then after draining your energy by tying you up in court with promises of returning them home but not allowing you visits even though the charges against you were dropped they decide to give you a parental capacity exam. This is after they have drained you emotionally depriving your children of your love and care. As well as giving the doctor administering the"parental capacity exam" court reports with your charges and any other stories the accuser makes up before your exam causing a bias against you by the doctor therefore not giving you a fair analysis. You could be the perfect parent but if someone wants your children all they have to do is lie to the government, tear your family apart, make you weak emotionally, and the government will start the human trafficking process with your children. That's all it is human trafficking. It's disgusting! It's illegal! They won't see it like that because they have power.....government power/immunity.
ReplyDeleteThere’s links to PDF Guides written for PCAs in Canada, specifically, Ontario, agency tricks to abuse PCAs against parents seems similar the world over!
ReplyDeleteHope these links come thru!
The first PDF talks about what is done during any assessment by a CAS Dr, they give the tests different names, they’re all dangerous since the court presumes any report, good, bad or dishonest is ‘true’ at your expense. CASs don’t pay Drs $5,000+ to give your kids back!
The 2nd PDF talks about case law you can use in court if the CAS seeks a court order to force a test. They like using Drs to produce ‘evidence’ when they can’t find any actual child abuse! Beware!
The 3 rd PDF talks about different stages of a case where a CAS can pressure parents to take a test and how to proceed without showing your hand too much.
Your best bet is to refuse an assessment, tell the CAS to go to a court for an order, then use the Case Law in court, the Judge will have to turn them down! Argue the case law and that if the CAS had genuine case, they would have evidence already! Lol
“ No ‘BS’ Guide To Parenting Assessments ”
https://www.box.com/s/8bh74lz77e9z0l1nwdfr
“ Grounds to Decline CAS Parenting Assessments ”
https://www.box.com/s/totfrcfoqfw9r1lkpx9o
“ Grounds to Decline CAS Parenting Assessments - PART II ”
https://app.box.com/s/7rwnhkjnop62daef7lp0rrg89rce7m7f
“ Summary of Bad CAS Doctor Case Law ”
https://app.box.com/s/7toktjfnlbr51k8zq3uw
“ A Practical Guide to MMPI-2 Tests ”
https://app.box.com/s/oy48360bkvbodp8rqvpr
cps has had my son for almost a year now and they have nothing left on me either but i have to complete a parental capacity and they took my son wyatt from the hospital and i was not on drugs or anything. i have been clean for almost three years now. they have nothing left on me at all but a test i took two years ago almost three years ago when i was coming down off drugs and they wont pay for another one because cps will not approve it and i know i will pass that one.
ReplyDelete