Counselors and child custody evaluations: Training needs, ethical challenges, and future directions

Child custody evaluations (CCEs) play a critical role in family court decisions, yet mental health and school counselors remain underrepresented in the research literature and underprepared for involvement in these high-stakes processes. This literature review synthesizes current research on the structure, evolution, and critiques of CCEs while emphasizing the expanding roles counselors play—as therapists, collateral contacts, expert witnesses, and, in some cases, evaluators. The paper highlights training gaps in counselor education programs, ethical challenges for counselors called to serve in this capacity, and systemic inequities that affect both families and professionals involved in custody cases. Recommendations for counselor education, supervision, and credentialing are offered to enhance the roles of counselors in the CCE process, along with future research directions. This review advances a counselor-specific perspective on custody evaluations, advocating for improved training and a more active, interdisciplinary role for counselors in shaping ethical, developmentally informed CCE practices.