Benefits of LEFCC Specialty Certification
Learn how to analyze, evaluate, litigate, and respond to cases involving allegations of child abuse and domestic violence. Improve your understanding of challenges that arise in child custody cases. Build capacity to utilize effective legal strategies, expert testimony, and custody evaluations in interactions among legal and mental health professionals. Join a network of trained attorneys, GALs, judges, mental health professionals, custody evaluators, and expert witnesses from around the country for referrals and consulting.
Legal Professionals will:
Effectively litigate contested child custody cases that have family violence/abuse allegations.
Gain skills to combat theories/labels used to deflect or deny family violence/abuse allegations.
Utilize litigation skills including interact ion with experts, theory of the case, use of experts, and familiarity with the research and misconceptions in these cases.
Work with and learn how to select appropriate child custody evaluators and experts in these cases.
Collaborate with mental health professionals in the best interest of the child and to promote child safety.
Mental health professionals will:
Improve accuracy in evaluating contested child custody cases with allegations of family violence/abuse.
Utilize appropriate techniques in conducting a child custody evaluation in contested cases.
Write competent reports, testify effectively, and manage cross-examination.
Be more capable to distinguish victims of family violence from offenders.
Critically examine the research and any proposed labels or theories used to deny/deflect family violence/abuse allegations.
Collaborate as experts with attorneys in the best interest of the child to promote child safety.