Forensic Assessment and Reporting
Forensic Assessment involves carrying out independent, comprehensive assessments on people for legal purposes and/or to provide to Courts.
Forensic Assessments may be required for a range of legal purposes:
Family Law / Family Court
Child Protection
Compensation (i.e. Criminal Injuries Compensation, Workplace Compensation or Vehicle Accidents)
Pre-Sentence Reports
Treatment Reports
Capability Assessments
Single Expert Witness and Family Court Reporting
Separation and divorce is often a complicated and painful process, particularly when children are involved. If parents are unable to resolve parenting custody arrangements between themselves, they sometimes attend the family court for assistance. In complex parenting cases, the family court will appoint a psychologist, social worker or psychiatrist as a Single Expert Witness.
The role of a Single Expert Witness is to conduct an objective assessment of the individuals involved in the court proceedings and provide a report to the court providing recommendations and responses to specific questions posed by the court. These comprehensive assessments can include in-depth interviews with the parents, children and relevant others, home visits and observation sessions, psychometric testing, a review of relevant court documents and subpoenaed material and consultation with other specialists involved.
The Single Expert Witness’ primarily goal is to help the court decide what is in the best interests of the child/ren involved. They will often make recommendations regarding the most appropriate custody arrangements for the children at that time (depending on the child’s ages / specific needs / family factors) and whether the children will benefit from any additional support from other specialists. They will also make recommendations for the parents to assist them with their own personal, parenting or co-parenting needs.
Once the Single Expert Witness has submitted the report to court, they may also be required to provide updated reports (after a period of time), or to give evidence in court if the matter goes to trial.
Eliza Hatton and Lauren Paganoni both act as Single Expert Witnesses with the Family Court of Western Australia.
Please contact them for more information.