Amazon.com description: Product Description: Contemporary Issues in Family Law and Mental Health is an original and practical discussion of cutting-edge issues in family relations and the law. Through the prism of family law, and custody disputes in particular, it discusses the basic principles that underlie the proper use of mental health evidence in court and it sets out the proper use of mental health evidence in litigation. The first and most important principal is that forensic mental health practice and procedures must track the legal process, not the other way around. The goal of mental health treatment is fundamentally different from the legal process, and the legal process is profoundly different from the therapeutic process. Whereas the law aims to be fair and impartial, mental health treatment must focus on the subjective and emotional needs of the patient. It points out that mental health professionals and legal professionals need to be keenly aware of their biases and that they must always keep in mind that the best interest of the child is not synonymous with the best interest of a particular parent. In this book of twenty chapters, Michael G. Brock and Samuel Saks discuss many important topics: Facilitative and evaluative mediation, case preparation versus the expert witness, the privilege and ethics of forensic practice, therapy court, valid and invalid scientific evidence, false allegations of abuse, parental alienation, child advocacy, mental health forensics, and child therapy. In addition, the effect of the amendment to the Michigan Rule of Evidence 703 on expert testimony in court is examined, as well as the forensic interviewing protocol in child abuse cases, science and technology, and the search for truth. In several chapters, the authors also describe the problems involved in establishing child abuse in the courts. The book also includes the elements of child custody evaluations, the use of the polygraph test, and when child abuse constitutes malpractice. This engaging book will enrich the literature on family law and mental health. It will help shed light on the challenges and pitfalls that surround the use of mental health evidence in court.