Passing the Buck to Make a Buck

As reported in the NY Times (Free reg may be require). Note: Forensic Evaluators are used to help determine which parent should be given child custody, among other things, in the state of New York.

A Manhattan stockbroker, Ms. Cockrell said she was not a disgruntled litigant; the evaluator in her case recommended that she retain custody of her daughter, although not on the terms she wanted. Her grievance involves the way she says she was treated by the evaluator, Dr. Stephen P. Herman, a psychiatrist often appointed in custody cases. In a 25-page complaint filed with the State Health Department and the inspector general of New York's court system, she says he was hostile, raised his voice at her, ordered $4,000 worth of psychological tests he did not use, refused to accept information she had tried to give him, and disparaged the other therapists her family was using.

Ms. Cockrell said she could not protest to the American Psychiatric Association because it said Dr. Herman was not a member. She filed her complaint with the State Health Department's office of professional medical conduct, which quickly rejected it, saying that custody disputes must be handled by the courts.

Ms. Cockrell said she then met with Justice Jacqueline W. Silbermann, the state's chief matrimonial judge, who was sympathetic but told her she should go back to the medical board. Ms. Cockrell has just refiled that complaint, signed by three other women who say they had similar experiences.

She and other parents say they have also complained to Sherrill R. Spatz, the inspector general of the court system. David Bookstaver, a spokesman for the courts, said that no one there would comment on specific cases, but that such complaints would be under the inspector general's purview.

Ms. Cockrell was among the parents who collected hundreds of signatures on a petition asking the Association of the Bar of the City of New York to investigate the custody evaluation process. That proposal was rejected.

Now in her third year of trying to fight the forensic-evaluation process in New York, Ms. Cockrell says she has met many other parents with similar problems. "I just think the whole system should be changed," she said. "It's hurting families."

A Matter of Passing the Buck to Make a Buck