This practical career guide is the first book written specifically for professional counsellors on how to provide services to the family court system, a growing and lucrative field of practise. Written by a professional counsellor with over 20 years of experience, it discusses the roles of counsellors in family court and provides step-by-step guidelines on how to expand one's counselling practice to include family forensic services. It describes how to enter the field, build a successful practice, and how to work effectively with attorneys and judges as well as parents and children. The book provides specific guidelines and examples of how to communicate effectively with attorneys, conduct interviews with parents and children, make recommendations for custody and visitation, write reports and successfully testify in court. Content builds on the background and expertise already possessed by the professional counsellor, and describes the advantages that counsellors have-and challenges they must often overcome-in successfully practising in the family law system. Included is a wealth of relevant information about the court system, definitions of legal terms, standards of practise required by the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC), training and licensing requirements for evaluators and mediators, scope of practise and ethical concerns. The book also includes forms for taking interview notes, templates for writing reports, examples of actual reports, sample visitation schedules and case studies.
