A Forward to Articles on the NY Chapter Website by Daniel O’Leary
Recent Posts by Dr. Jeffrey Wittmann and Hon. Jane Pearl provide insightful opinions regarding forensic custody evaluations.
Daniel K. O”Leary, Ph.D.
The Wittmann article (posted here) cogently argues for forensic evaluations in light of the Hevesi bill in the NY state legislature (A10424) that calls for a complete banishment of such evaluations. Forensic evaluations have their own risks and benefits, but Wittmann argues that the benefits far exceed the risks. He also opines that continuing education training in NY state should involve more than domestic violence as that is just one issue about which forensic evaluators need to have current knowledge.
He makes concrete recommendations like having a professional oversight committee to evaluate evaluations in which a child may have been harmed. He suggests having NY state standards for forensic evaluations using AFCC guidelines and universal domestic violence screening. Further, he argues for a peer support system in NY state to allow forensic practitioners to discuss their evaluations with peers (In my opinion, something AFCC might promote).
The article by Judge Pearl (posted here) takes the stance that issue-focused targeted forensic evaluations can be more efficient, less costly, and can address very specific issues of any case, e.g. parent-child relationship, mental health of one or both parents, substance abuse, etc. The Pearl article provides an avenue to address some of the criticisms voiced about forensic evaluations by Judge Carol MacKenzie and the advantages of forensic evaluations noted by Judge Matthew Cooper in the Fall 2024 issue of this newsletter.
Judge Pearl supports the use of targeted issue-focused evaluations that cost less, are completed sooner and provide greater privacy to the litigants. In using issue-focused targeted evaluations the assessor can address very specific issues deemed important by the court other than the required family violence issues, e.g., substance abuse of one or both parents, mental health of one parent, parenting skills. The court could require that the evaluator complete the report to the court by a specific date, and thus potentially facilitate communication between the parties that could prompt a settlement. However, there are some clear advantages for a forensic evaluator to have interaction with a family across time, e.g. when a parent is released from a psychiatric hospital or a rehab center, when a parent or child is placed on a new pharmacological intervention, or when a parent is granted overnights when such never existed before. Nonetheless, even in such cases, a targeted evaluation could be efficient in that the court can specify an hourly time limit to be spent on the case.
Daniel O’Leary is a Research Professor and Distinguished Psychology Professor Emeritus at Stony Brook University. He is a clinical psychologist who received his B.A. from Penn State University and his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana, Illinois. At Stony Brook, he served as department chair from 1978-1981 and Director of Clinical Training from 2002-2010. He was President of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts/NY (Jan 2016-Dec 2017), and he now serves on their Board of Directors (2022-2025).
He is a divorce/family dispute mediator with attorney, Dawn Murphy, in Smithtown, NY, and he has conducted forensic custody evaluations for numerous judges in Supreme and Family Courts of Suffolk County, NY for thirty-five years. His license number is: 003566. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (Divisions 7, 12, and 25). He was president of the American Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy.
He is author or co-author of thirteen books, and those published since 2000 are as follows: Psychological Abuse with R Maiuro (2001), Understanding Psychological and Physical Aggression in Couples: Existing Evidence and Clinical Implications (with Erica Woodin, 2009), and Couples Psychotherapy Treatment Planner, (2nd Ed, 2015, with Richard Heyman and Arthur Jongsma). He has published over 300 manuscripts, and he was among the top 100 cited psychologists in the English-speaking world (American Psychologist, December, 1978).
He received the Distinguished Scientist Award from the clinical division (12, Section III) of the American Psychological Association (APA) in 1985. He was installed to the National Academies of Practice in Psychology in 1986. He received the Family Psychologist of the Year Award in August 2015 at the American Psychological Association meeting in Toronto, and on November 14, 2015, he received the Elizabeth Hurlock Beckman Trust Award for Mentoring graduate students that included a $25,000 cash prize. In February 2019, he was inducted as Fellow of the American Association for Advancement of Science in Washington, D.C.
He has served on the following scientific boards: H. F. Guggenheim, Distilled Spirits Council of the US, Center for Disease Control (Control and Prevention of Partner Abuse), National Institute of Mental Health (for 10 years). His research has focused on treatment of partner aggression, the etiology and treatment of spouse abuse, and the alcohol abuse/partner abuse link.
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