Parental Fitness and Psychiatric Evaluation in New York Family Cases

Stephan M. Carlson, MD, MBA, FAPA · Juvenile and Family Forensics

A psychiatric diagnosis, standing alone, decides nothing in a custody or neglect case. The question New York courts actually ask is functional: given this parent's condition as it operates now, what can the parent do for this child? Reports that answer "what is the diagnosis" instead of "what is the parenting capacity" miss the legal target. The standard the court is applying New York does not adjudicate parental fitness against a psychiatric checklist; it adjudicates against the best interests of the child. In contested custody, that standard was articulated in Eschbach v. Eschbach , 56 N.Y.2d 167 (1982), which directs the court to weigh the totality of circumstances—stability of the home,

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