July 10, 2025
9:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Pacific
2 Hours | 2 CEs
$125 Registration | $100 Early Registration (through July 3rd) | Live Training via Zoom
Shawn A. Wygant, MA presents a live virtual professional training program on Conducting Scientifically Informed Child Custody Evaluations When Parental Alienation and Domestic Violence are Alleged.
The literature does not well define the practice of conducting child custody evaluations, leading to a lack of standards for accurately evaluating parental alienation and domestic violence allegations. Child custody evaluators tend to rely on methodological approaches that exclude the application of scientific principles to data analysis, report writing, and expert testimony. They also frequently utilize psychometric instruments incapable of measuring the phenomena of interest.
This training will explore these problems and solutions. A series of de-identified vignettes will explicate parental alienation and domestic violence assessment in the context of conducting a scientifically informed child custody evaluation. Both scientifically reliable and unreliable evaluations will be examined to allow participants to see what it looks like when a child custody evaluation is scientifically informed and what it looks like when it’s not.
Since many high-conflict custody evaluations result in a trial where the evaluator is called to testify, a portion of this training will be devoted to examining how to write a scientifically informed report and provide expert testimony.
The target audience for this program is child custody evaluators at any stage of their career working in child abuse and violence assessment fields.
Key Topics Covered:
- Overview of how to Apply the Scientific Method in Child Custody Evaluation
- Operational Definitions & Working Models for Parental Alienation and Domestic Violence from the Scientific Literature
- Case Vignettes Analysis - Evaluating Allegations of Parental Alienation and Domestic Violence Using the Scientific Literature
- Generating and Testing Hypotheses
- Psychometric Instruments
- Conducting a "Best Interests of the Child Factorial Analysis"
- Report Writing
- Preparing for and Providing Expert Testimony
This training will be interactive, use polls, and have dedicated Q&A and discussion periods.
Intended Audience
This live program is intended for mental health and other allied professionals.
Experience Level
This live program is appropriate for beginner, intermediate, and advanced level clinicians.
CE / CPD Credit
APA, ASWB, CPA, NBCC: Click here for state and other regional board approvals.
Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this program you will be able to:
Describe and summarize the steps involved in conducting a child custody evaluation using the scientific method
Describe between scientifically reliable and unreliable ways of analyzing and reporting data
Describe how the scientific literature defines parental alienation and parental alienation syndrome
Describe how the scientific literature defines and differentiates domestic violence typologies (e.g., coercive controlling violence, situational couple violence, violent resistance, and separation-instigated violence)
Describe the psychological tests that do and do not accurately assess for parental alienation and domestic violence
Describe the data analytic and hypothesis testing process involved in weighing each of the best interests of the child factors during the material integration and report writing phase of a child custody evaluation.
Live Event Policy
Registration for our live events is covered for one (1) person per purchase. If you would like to purchase for a group, please contact our group training team.
Event Communications
When registering, use an email that is active and that you check regularly. We are not responsible for communications not being received; if you do not add caps@paloaltou.edu to your email safe sender list, our emails are likely to end up in your spam or junk folders.
Cancellation Policy
This is a live program only and will not be made available on-demand. If you are unable to attend live, please contact customer service 48 hours before the live event to request a refund.
Event Conduct
Professional conduct is expected during our live programs. Our goal is to make our events as interactive as possible for all participants. We reserve the right to remove any participants who are disruptive, act unprofessionally, or who we are unable to verify their purchase.
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CE Sponsorship Information
Palo Alto University, Continuing and Professional Studies (CONCEPT) is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Palo Alto University, Continuing and Professional Studies (CONCEPT) maintains responsibility for this program and its content. Palo Alto University, Continuing and Professional Studies (CONCEPT) is approved by the Canadian Psychological Association to offer continuing education for psychologists. Palo Alto University, Continuing and Professional Studies (CONCEPT), SW CPE is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0356 and the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors. #MHC-0073. Palo Alto University, Continuing and Professional Studies (CONCEPT) has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 6811. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. CONCEPT Professional Training, #1480, is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved as ACE providers. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. CONCEPT Professional Training maintains responsibility for this course. ACE provider approval period: 11/22/23-11/22/26. Social workers completing this course receive (clinical or social work ethics) continuing education credits.