Forensic assessment of parental skills: what they are and how they are evaluated

In separation and divorce proceedings where there are minors, it is usual practice request the intervention of a Forensic Psychology professional to explore the Parental Capacities of the parents.

But... What are they specifically? How is parental capacity or incapacity determined? How is it objective?

• Related article: "Forensic Psychology: definition and functions of the forensic psychologist"

The importance of the family context in physical and psychological development

Despite the diversity of definitions that the family construct has, most authors agree that it becomes the core where most of the learning takes place through the relationships established between the systems that comprise it, that is, the parental system and the filial system. Just as the main objective of this last system is to develop, the parental system must ensure the correct maturation of the children, accompanying them during their individuation process.

However, for such accompaniment to be given correctly, it is not enough to satisfy basic needs such as food or hygiene

, but it is necessary that the parents have specific abilities and skills that manage to contain the anxieties of the children and also satisfy the nutritional, educational, from socialization and protection, that is:

• That provide sensory, emotional and affective experiences that allow minors to build safe bonds (Nutritional needs).
• That promote learning and cognitive development, prioritizing the autonomy of minors (educational needs).
• That they show how to feel, think, do and relate by example, since all of this will have repercussions on how minors feel, think, act and relate (Socialization needs).
• That they provide adequate protection to minors with respect to those external, family and social contexts that can harm them directly or alter their process of maturation, growth and development (Needs of protection).

• You may be interested: "The 6 stages of childhood (physical and mental development)"

Parental Competence

To carry out the task of responding effectively to all these needs, parents must be able to bond properly with their children, being able to mentalize their emotional states, being sensitive and accessible and getting involved in their affective care.

Similarly, they must know how to apply positive discipline, guiding and acting as guides for the little ones, while promoting learning and offering guarantees of physical, emotional and social security. They must be competent.

In this way, then, Parental Competence is the compendium of personal skills and abilities that, when applied correctly, favor the multidimensional care, protection and education of children, ensuring their healthy physical, cognitive, social, affective and personal development.

Thus, the use of the characteristic cognitive, emotional, psychological and social style of the parents in each situation, will become their competence to exercise parenthood that may be healthy or ineffective depending on the quality of such peculiarities.

• Related article: "Child therapy: what is it and what are its benefits"

How is that competence evaluated?

Bearing in mind that parents have received specific care from their own parents, when carrying out the evaluation of parental capacities should take into account both the idiosyncratic characteristics of each parent, What his personal history in relation to the links established in his family of origin.

For this, an anamnestic interview is carried out to collect information on the educational styles received in childhood, the relationships of attachment lived in the family of origin, the evolutionary history of the evaluated person and the most relevant episodes of their trajectory vital. Of course, depending on what the forensic professional deems appropriate in each case, more will be delved into aspects of a bonding, educational, psychopathological, health, etc. type.

In addition to this vital analysis, An exhaustive psychological examination will have to be carried out to know the emotional state of the caregivers., as well as the personal characteristics and/or psychopathologies that could exist, allowing to determine if they can interfere negatively when exercising their parenting.

• You may be interested: "The 12 branches (or fields) of Psychology"

The importance of objectivity

As a peculiarity of the forensic field, it should be noted that, as well as in the clinical-assistance field, knowledge of the ontogeny of the individual and his personal characteristics through the clinical interview could be sufficient, For the forensic evaluation of parental capacity, it is required that what is exposed be objectified, so that another professional, if necessary, could replicate the exploration carried out.

For this reason, psychometric instruments of proven reliability and validity are administered that will evaluate parenting through different indicators such as the level of knowledge that parents have on how to act in the face of certain critical events that occur in the daily care of their children, their abilities to propose and use effective solutions appropriate to each situation, their ability to recognize their children's feelings in different contexts and their communicative potential with them, adjusting their expressions to the level of understanding of the children. minors.

Although parenting skills are of the utmost importance given the impact they have on the development and well-being of minors, in separations and divorces where there is a high level of conflict between the Adults it is common for such skills and abilities to be severely impaired.

In addition, the confrontation between the two can end up overshadowing and blurring the relevance of parental competence, even reaching the point of putting The ability of parents as a means to obtain some type of benefit in relation to the custody of children is in question.

All this makes it vitally important to highlight the importance of the forensic psychological evaluation of Parental Capacities, helping to differentiate the roles that adults play in the parental system and in the conjugal system.