Child Maltreatment
Sponsored by The Center of Excellence for Children, Families and the Law at the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology
Robin M. Deutsch, Ph.D. and Amy Tischelman, Ph.D., instructors
This course is the third offered in a four course series. Child Maltreatment is designed for professionals engaged in
providing services to youth, families, and the courts who seek to provide or
understand best practices of investigation, evaluation, and testimony in
matters of child abuse or neglect including sexual abuse in the context of
divorce. Participants will distinguish between forensic and clinical
evaluations, enhance reliability of interviews of children, apply a systematic
approach to providing a sound evidence-based report and opinion, and identify
ethical issues inherent in evaluations and testimony. MSPP and the Center of Excellence for Children, Families and the Law will offer the Child Maltreatment course for academic or continuing credits. This 28 hour training provides 2 academic credits or 28 Continuing Education Credit. The course is a blended learning format and spans 4 weeks of online coursework for 13 hours and 15 hours of on-site instruction over a weekend-in-residence.
General: law, policy, systems overview, consultation and testimony
Evaluations: parenting, family
Specialty evaluations: domestic violence, sexual abuse, physical maltreatment
Empirically-based treatments and best practices
Applicants will demonstrate an interest in family forensics and may include mental health professionals, lawyers, judges, probation officers, juvenile justice professionals, child welfare professionals, and court service workers. Prerequisites include an advanced degree in law, mental health, human services or criminal justice and certification or licensure in law, mental health or mediation. A formal transcript and a writing sample will be required for all applicants taking these courses for academic credit.
Please contact Robin M. Deutsch, PhD at robin_deutsch@mspp.edu.
Program Code: CM13-3
28 CE Credits
$975 for CE Credits - Be sure to register early. Space is limited.
Certificate in Child
and Family Forensics - 4 Courses
The certificate in Child and Family Forensics provides
students with a solid foundation in the concepts, theories and practices in
child and family forensic mental health work and will help professionals hone
their skills and increase their knowledge to prepare them for work in child
welfare, juvenile delinquency, sexual offending, divorce child custody and
post-divorce parenting contexts. Courses include: parenting coordination, child
custody evaluation, child maltreatment, and mental health and juvenile justice.
These courses will review the law and systems, describe and practice protocols
for evaluations, and review empirically based best practices and interventions
through in-depth didactic instruction and opportunities for practice and
consultation. Students have the option of substituting one course for an online
course offered by New York Law School.
All courses are offered for 2 academic credits or 28
continuing education credits in a blended learning format, consisting of a
4-week online course and a required "weekend in residence" at the
MSPP campus in Newton, MA.
Robin M. Deutsch, PhD, is the Director of the Center of Excellence for Children, Families and the Law at the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology (MSPP), and an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychology at Harvard Medical School. She practices as a custody evaluator, mediator, parent coordinator, therapist and consultant. Dr. Deutsch lectures widely throughout North America and Europe on Parenting Coordination, parenting and child development and complex issues related to family conflict, including parent alienation, attachment, abuse and neglect and trauma. She has published extensively on issues related to attachment, alienation, co-parenting after divorce, high conflict divorce, parenting plans and parenting coordination. Dr. Deutsch has performed a wide variety of forensic evaluations and testified in juvenile, family, district and federal courts involving divorce and visitation disputes, relocation, domestic violence, adoption, alienation, abuse and neglect. She provides consultation and expert witness services on boundary violations, ethical issues, child and adolescent development, complex custody issues and custody and parenting evaluations. Dr. Deutsch was a member of the American Psychological Association (APA) task force that developed
Guidelines for Parenting Coordinators (2011), the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC) Task Force that developed
Guidelines for Parenting Coordinators (2006), and the AFCC Task force that developed
Guidelines for Court Involved Therapists (2010). She was the former President of the AFCC (2008-2009) and the former Chair of the APA Ethics Committee (2007).
Amy Tischelman, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Psychology (Psychiatry) at Harvard Medical School; Director of Research and Training, Child Protection Program at Boston Children's Hospital. Her specialties include: Clinical Psychology (general); Developmental Psychopathology; Child Trauma: Evaluation and Treatment; Child Maltreatment; Disaster Response; Interpersonal Violence; Domestic Violence; Child Sexual Abuse Evaluation; Forensic Processes in Child Maltreatment; Forensic Evaluation; Self-regulation; Prevention; Gender Issues; and Pediatric Psychology.