Dr. Reed has phased out of providing custody/parenting time evaluations, parenting competence evaluations, and psychological evaluations for family and juvenile courts. However, she is still providing the services listed below for which she relies on her training as a Ph.D.-level developmental and clinical psychologist, her subsequent clinical and forensic training and experience, and her thorough review and use of the current scientific literature of relevance for particular cases.
Dr. Reed has had extensive training in conducting child custody evaluations starting in 2009, both with local experts (Karen Irvin, Ph.D., and Jennifer Joseph, Esq.) and national experts (e.g., Ph.D. psychologists Jonathan Gould, David Martindale, Robin Deutsch, April Harris-Britt, and Sol Rappaport) through the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC) and the American Academy of Forensic Psychology (AAFP). In 2021, Dr. Reed was also trained as a Rule 114 Neutral to provide Family Mediation Services with Dr. Irvin through the Mediation Center in the Twin Cities.
The following is a list of the services Dr. Reed provides:
- Expert consultation services, including trial preparation consultation.
- Expert reports and/or expert testimony anchored in the review of client and evidentiary materials as needed, as well as the review of the scientific literature, aiming at addressing specific psycholegal questions to assist attorneys with their understanding of their cases, and provide relevant scientific knowledge to judges making decisions.
For instance, she may inform the courts about:- The needs of children at specific developmental stages or with certain developmental or mental health conditions, following parental separation or divorce, or following their placement away from the parental home, taking into account multiple factors that are present for a particular case.
- The risks and protective factors that should be considered in making decisions about custody, parenting time, and out-of-home placement for children of a particular age in specific contexts.
- The appropriateness of the forensic investigative processes (including child forensic interviews) that were used following allegations of child maltreatment in particular cases in family or juvenile courts. This includes a comprehensive review of evidentiary materials which allows Dr. Reed to take essential context into account for her critique of the investigative processes. Her critique rests on her solid training and experience with interviewing children at various ages in various contexts, her knowledge of witness memory processes, accounts, and statements at various stages of development in various contexts, and her extensive knowledge of the research and best practice international and national guidelines for the investigation of abuse allegations, combined with the scientific findings in specific domains relevant to a case (see the Criminal Justice page of this website for more details).
- External reviews of other professionals’ work.
