Is it fair to have a psychological evaluation when you are sad and depress? the court ordered psychological evaluation on the parents. one parent who had custody of the child for 16 years temporary loss custody and the child was given to the abusive paren

I : I believe it is a fair test to give to someone who has natural feelings related to a real world situation or stress. To give you a perspective, there are quite a lot of patients who seek evaluation for suicidal and even homicidal thoughts and many of them don't end up hospitalized against their will; many of them are able to pull through/finish the examination in the sense that their level of understanding about their situation helps them realize what they need to do. Many of those cases continue to follow up with their doctors. I would assume this example i gave you is not an apples to orange comparison (btw, many times things aren't really apples to apples) but nevertheless demonstrates performance ability in the face of emotional challenges.

A : A good court evaluator would take into consideration all aspects of the parental care of the minor child. It is certainly understandable that the circumstances described would create great stress for the custodial parent and could contribute to the mood disorder described. However, if that parent had custody for 16 years, it is reasonable to assume that the child is at least 16 years of age and certainly in many state jurisdictions has a say about which parent he/she wishes to live with. It is not stated why the long term custodial parent lost custody nor what the nature of the alleged abuse might have been. These are the very factors, especially the adolescent's viewpoint that a competent evaluator would be taking into account.