Recently, psychological and pedagogical expertise of the child has been given great attention, because the parties are convinced that the court in civil cases is guided exclusively by the results of an independent study. In fact, this is just one of the evidence taken into account when making the decision. Let us dwell on it in more detail.
Reasons for appointment in a civil case
Psychological and pedagogical examinations can be of two types: voluntary and by court decision.
If the interests of children are affected during the trial, it is important to identify, for example, their emotional affection for each of the parents, other family members, personality traits, features of intellectual development, etc. This requires the use of knowledge in the field of pedagogy and developmental psychology.
The parties to the trial may agree on the need for such an examination and conduct it voluntarily in the presence of both parents. In this case, its results will be interpreted as recommendations.
The appointment of a psychological and pedagogical examination by the court is required in the following cases:
- The appearance of a lawyer's request or petition of one of the parties.
- The judge has the right to make a determination on his own, if he considers that there are no other objective ways to elicit the opinion of the child, for example. So, according to the IC of the Russian Federation, only children 10 years and older can be interviewed in court. To identify the position of a nine-year-old, an expert opinion is needed.
In the second case, the psychological and pedagogical examination for the court will serve as one of the evidence in the case, but a decision will be made on the basis of their totality.
Which disputes require examination
In a complete family, both parents act as legal representatives of the child, between whom differences may arise on issues of upbringing. If they cannot be resolved peacefully, one of the parties has the right to apply to the court. The first instance where family law recommends contacting is the guardianship authority. However, their decision can be challenged in court if one of the parents disagrees with him.
We list the most frequently considered civil cases in which it is important to identify the interests of the child to make a decision:
- Art. 59 SK RF on changing the name and surname of a minor. Mandatory consent of the child is required from 10 years. Up to this age, disputes may arise between spouses, especially if they do not live together.
- Art. 65 of the IC of the Russian Federation on the exercise of parental rights. It speaks of possible disagreements regarding the upbringing and place of residence of the minor when the mother and father are separated.
- Art. 66 of the IC of the Russian Federation on the implementation of the rights to participate in the upbringing of a minor by one of the parents who do not live with the child.
- Article 69 of the RF IC on the deprivation of parental rights. This exceptional measure applies to mothers and fathers who abuse their rights and abuse children. The fact of physical or psychological violence should be established with the help of medical-psychological-pedagogical examination.
Please note that any medical examination requires licensing, so you should dwell in more detail on who has the right to be an expert.
Requirements for Examiners
By mutual agreement, the legal representatives of the child have the right to independently choose a specialist for the study. The main condition is the availability of professional education. This may be an employee of the department of pedagogy and psychology of the university, a school psychologist or an individual entrepreneur with an appropriate diploma. But everyone who conducts the examination should be prepared for the fact that he can be invited to court to explain the results of the examination or the final conclusion.
Moreover, at the initiative of one of the parties or the court, the document can be reviewed by a specialist of higher qualification. This imposes a certain responsibility on the one who conducts the survey. Examination requires the use of proven techniques. It may not look like a description of the consultation technique with subsequent conclusions.
If a medical and psychological examination is required, for example, for a criminal case where the teenager is the accused or the victim, then only organizations or individual entrepreneurs who have received the appropriate license are entitled to conduct it. Thus, the fact of child abuse and the presence of psychological violence can only be confirmed by an institution that has the right to do so.
The objectives of psychological and pedagogical examination
If a court is considering a case to determine the place of residence of a minor whose parents live separately, the examination is not entitled to prepare a conclusion with a final conclusion - the mother or father should transfer the child to education. For this cannot be the goal of research.
The law says that in making the final decision, the court will take into account the child’s affection for mother and father, sisters and brothers, the age of the minor, the personal qualities of each parent and their relationship with the child, the possibility of creating conditions for the minor to develop. The last item includes: the type of activity and the mode of work of each of the parents, their marital and financial status, etc.
The court will consider all aspects, many of which are not within the competence of the educational psychologist. For example, the material situation of the parties. But during the examination, the techniques allow to identify:
- emotional attachment of a minor to each member of the family;
- their relationship;
- personal characteristics of parents and the minor.
An expert opinion is possible on the question of whether individual characteristics and the style of upbringing of the mother or father can have a negative impact on the development of the child. It is done taking into account the age and personality characteristics of the minor.
Expertise conditions
Conducting a psychological and pedagogical examination requires compliance with a number of principles:
- volunteerism;
- lack of personal interest of the expert in the research results;
- science;
- flexibility;
- predictability.
For a more objective picture, the study should be conducted in a neutral territory - in an institution where all the conditions for a comfortable stay of adults and children, as well as for testing, are created. Nothing should distract the subjects in the room: external noise, strangers, poor lighting.
Such an examination is often called comprehensive. Examination of the child is carried out in the presence of both parents. This does not mean that they should be in the room where the testing is being carried out - a waiting room should be allocated for them. And when revealing the attitude of parents to the child, as well as their influence on his upbringing and development, adults should also be tested.
Preparatory phase of the examination
The examination is carried out in several stages. One of the most important is preparatory. It is important both from the point of view of the mood of the child and his parents, and from the point of view of observation. The invitation of both parents, between whom there is a conflict, is very important so that the parties trust the results of the study, which should be conducted as transparently as possible.
The psychological and pedagogical examination of the child for the court begins with the collection of background information. You can observe with whom the minor will come, how he will react to the second parent and how everyone will greet each other. A preliminary introductory conversation is very indicative, during which it matters how its participants sit down, how they interact, what they say on the merits of the dispute.
The expert needs to build a friendly relationship with the family and explain the essence of the study. The most emotionally significant parent will help set up the minor for testing. The study itself should take place without the presence of strangers, so that nothing distracts during its conduct.
Testing
For research, structured methods are most often used, where it is possible to rank quantitative indicators. The choice depends on the purpose of the test, the age of the child, the time available to the expert.
For children of primary school age, projective techniques are applied in the form of picture tests. For example, "Family Drawing" by Rene Gilles. For older, you can use the "Diagnosis of emotional relations in the family" E. Bene, "Questionnaire of parent-child interaction" (BPP).
The expert should be prepared for the fact that all objective materials can be requested by the court during the review process, therefore a reliable interpretation of the results is very important. Recently, video has been increasingly used, where the process of psychological and pedagogical examination is recorded, since when performing a picture test, for example, the child’s behavior is very diagnostic.
Expert opinion
For this document there is no special form of the established sample, but a competent conclusion should include:
- Date, time and place of the survey.
- Name of the subject, age and brief biographical data (address of residence, school, kindergarten, family composition, etc.).
- Who and in whose presence conducted the survey.
- The purpose of testing.
- Objective data identified during the observation process.
- The list of used techniques.
- Test results.
- Conclusions.
- Recommendations
Although psychological and pedagogical examination is carried out for the court, recommendations are given to parents. If a child has increased anxiety, for example, and is traumatized by a conflict between parents, it is necessary to indicate what adults should do to alleviate the condition of the minor. The court will take into account the readiness of each of them to observe the interests of the child.
Conclusion: what parents need to know
In a civil case, a judicial psychological and pedagogical examination is carried out on a voluntary basis. Parents have the right to personally refuse to conduct it and not to examine the child. In this case, the court will interpret the refusal in favor of the party that has filed the motion.
For example, the father wants to prove that the child is emotionally attached to him and wants to communicate with him. The mother refuses to bring the minor for examination, proving that he forgot his father and does not want to see him. In this case, the court will take the side of the applicant.