Alcohol or drug use is frequently reported as a factor in divorce; 10.6% of divorcing couples list it as a precipitant for the marriage dissolution, surpassed by infidelity (21.6%) and incompatibility (19.2%).1 An effective drug and alcohol evaluation and monitoring plan during a child custody dispute safeguards the well-being of the minor children and protects—as much as possible—the parenting time of drug- or alcohol-involved parents. The evaluation maneuvers discussed in this article most likely will produce a complete, fair, and transparent evaluation and monitoring plan.
An evaluator—usually a clinician trained in diagnosing and treating a substance use disorder (SUD) and other psychiatric illnesses—performs a comprehensive alcohol/drug evaluation, prepares a monitoring program, or both. The evaluation and monitoring plan should be fair and transparent to all parties. Specific evaluation maneuvers, such as forensic-quality testing, detailed interviews with collateral informants, and ongoing collaboration with attorneys, are likely to yield a thorough evaluation and an effective and fair monitoring program. The evaluating clinician should strive for objectivity, accuracy, and practical workability when constructing these reports and monitoring plans. However, the evaluator should—in most cases—not provide treatment because this likely would represent a boundary violation between clinical treatment and forensic evaluation.
Addiction-specific evaluation maneuvers
As in all forensic matters, the evaluator’s report must answer the court’s “psycho-legal question as objectively as possible”2 rather than benefit the subject of that report. (Describing the individual being examined as the “subject” rather than “patient” emphasizes the forensic rather than clinical nature of the evaluation and the absence of a doctor–patient relationship.) Similarly, a monitoring program for drug/alcohol use should be designed to flag use of banned substances and protect the well-being of the minor child, not the parents.
Acting more as a detective than a clinician, the evaluator should maintain a skeptical—although not cynical or disrespectful—attitude when interviewing individuals who might have knowledge of the subject’s drug or alcohol use, including friends, co-workers, therapists, physicians, and even the soon-to-be-ex spouse. These collateral informants will have their own preferences or loyalties, and the examining clinician must consider these biases in the final report. A spouse often is biased and could exaggerate, emphasize, or invent addictive behaviors committed by the subject.
