General Public Consultation

Dr. Childress provides general public consultation the first week of every month at his online office doxy.me/drchildress, scheduling is through the online Scheduling Calendar on this website. The fee for consultation appointments is $250/hr and is billed through the doxy.me platform at the start of the hour.

Licensure: Dr. Childress  is licensed in California. To avoid jurisdictional issues, Dr. Childress limits his consultation to the general public who are outside the state of California to one (perhaps two) consultation sessions.

Professional-to-Professional Consultation: Dr. Childress can meet with the parents and their attorneys, or with the surrounding mental health professionals, without restriction. But general public consultation for people outside of California is limited to one (perhaps two) sessions to discuss whatever this issue is.

Dr. Childress is a full-scope clinical psychologist with multiple domains of specialized experience. Often family conflict issues are discussed, sometimes other issues.

  • Note: I will not provide consultation to parents or attorneys in Oregon.

Parents may also wish to familiarize themselves with the materials in other areas on this Consultation Website regarding resources for the mental health professionals and attorneys.

Review of Materials & Report Writing

Dr. Childress provides review of materials and report writing consultation services to attorneys and their parent-clients in court-involved custody conflict.

Initial appointments for that attorney, the parent-client, and Dr. Childress to discuss the situation and possible involvement of Dr. Childress can be made through the Scheduling Calendar on this website.

Engaging the professional consultation of Dr. Childress in the review of materials and report writing is through establishing a scope-of-service agreement with the attorney and parent-client regarding the materials to be reviewed, the product to be returned, and the costs.

Dr. Childress can also provide consultation to attorneys on the cross-examination of mental health testimony.

More information about the potential involvement of Dr. Childress as a consultant in court-involved custody litigation is available on the Attorney Resource section of this website.

Handouts

Diagnostic Questions to be Answered

This is a letter for parents, attorneys, and mental health professionals that describes the diagnostic questions that need to be answered by the involved mental health professionals.

Handout: Description of Pathology

This is a handout for parents that describes the pathology and a clinical psychology solution (treatment not custody).

Handout: Risk Assessment

In all cases of high-intensity court-involved custody conflict, a proper risk assessment for possible dangerous pathology in the family needs to be conducted – including for possible Child Psychological Abuse (DSM-5 V995.51), i.e., a shared (induced) persecutory delusion that then destroys the child’s attachment bond to the targeted parent.

Handout: Telehealth Consultation

Dr. Childress can provide telehealth second opinion consultation on active assessments in a variety of formats that are described in this handout.

Handout: Psychological Control Quotes

These are quotes from the literature describing the construct of parental psychological control of the child.

Resources: Booklets

The Narcissistic Parent

The Narcissistic Parent is a 50-page booklet that uses quotes from the professional literature to highlight for legal professionals (judges, attorneys, GALs, Parenting Coordinators) the nature of the pathology involved with a narcissistic parent.

The Assessment of Attachment-Related Pathology

The Assessment of Attachment-Related Pathology is a 50-page booklet that describes a six-session assessment protocol for the assessment of attachment-related pathology surrounding divorce. This assessment protocol can be provided to involved mental health professionals and attorneys to indicate the type of assessment desired.

Contingent Visitation Schedule

The Contingent Visitation Schedule is a 50-page booklet that describes a treatment-oriented Strategic family systems intervention for the pathology involving variable custody time based on child symptoms.

Professional Consultation

The Professional Consultation booklet is a 50-page booklet written at a professional level that parents can provide to their involved mental health professional to describe the pathology and the surrounding professional obligations.

Foundations

Foundations is a 300-page book that describes the pathology across three levels of analysis, 1) family systems therapy, 2) personality disorder pathology, 3) the attachment system and attachment pathology.

Healthcare & Legal System Solutions

The allied  parent wants to drive the problem into the courts to put the targeted parent on “trial” for being a “bad parent”/(spouse). Don’t let that happen. This isn’t about custody, it’s about child abuse, it’s about treatment.

In healthcare, all of healthcare, including all of mental health care, diagnosis guides treatment.

The attachment pathology created by the pathological parent is severe and the DSM-5 diagnosis is Child Psychological Abuse (V995.51), i.e., the creation of a shared persecutory delusion in the child that then destroys the child’s attachment bond to the other parent.

In all cases of court-involved custody conflict:

  • A proper risk assessment for possible psychological child abuse needs to be conducted – (DSM-5 V995.51 Child Psychological Abuse).
  • A proper risk assessment for possible spousal emotional and psychological abuse of the targeted parent using the child as the weapon needs to be conducted – (DSM-5 V995.82 Spouse or Partner Abuse, Psychological).
  • A proper assessment for possible delusional thought disorder pathology in the family needs to be conducted.

In healthcare, all of healthcare, including all of mental health care, diagnosis guides treatment.

    • Is the diagnosis V995.51 Child Psychological Abuse?
    • Is the diagnosis V995.82 Spouse or Partner Abuse, Psychological?
    • Is the diagnosis a shared (induced) persecutory delusion?

Various Submissions

These are submissions made by Dr. Childress to various organizations describing the needed changes and solutions.

Offered Consultation to Family Justice Council (UK)

The Family Justice Council in the United Kingdom invited public consultation on their Draft Guidance on Responding to allegations of alienating behaviour. This is my consultation response submitted to the Family Justice Council.

Australian Amicus Brief

This is an amicus brief I offered in Australia surrounding pending legislation considerations that describes the pathology of concern in the family courts.

California SB-311 Amicus Letter

This is an amicus letter I sent regarding California state legislative bill SB-311.

Serbia Powerpoint Handout: Day 1

This is the Handout for Day 1 of my presentation in Serbia for the Center for Shared Parenting Conference held at the University of Novi Sad, Serbia on April 27 & 28, 2023.