When a child's mother is mentally ill, it is natural to explore a father's child custody rights with the mental illness in mind. Disclaimer: Best Interest of the Child In every custody case, the court makes a decision based on the best interests of the child. The mental illness must be shown to have a negative impact or potential negative impact on your children. II. Everyday decisions about things like who has custody of the kids, where the kids go to the doctor, and where the kids should attend school can seem impossible when you are dealing with a co-parent who is living with an untreated mental illness. From the label you can learn the name of the pharmacy and the prescribing physician. Child custody cases can often get heated. The parent seeking “full-custody”, to become the sole care giver, must prove to the courts that the other parent is unfit to care for the children. My mother in law is a manic depress and diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Of course, they would have to prove to the court that the mother is mentally unstable/unfit. In many situations where a party has a mental illness or is accused of having a mental illness that affects the ability to parent, a psychological and custodial evaluation is a viable option and can help put to rest a lot of this uncertainty. The court may award: In order to assess which custody arrangement is right in a custody dispute, the court will look at the best interests of the child. Psychological Evaluations in Custody Cases. In other words, a parent with a psychological disorder would find it hard to be a child’s primary care giver, if the child would best be cared for by the other parent. However, that is not to say that a court will not grant a parent who has a mental illness custody of his child; rather, it is to imply that it is important that the mental illness be under control (with therapy or medication) to ensure that the best interests of the child are protected. Find the right lawyer for your legal issue. In one Texas case, the court placed significant restrictions on a mentally ill father’s custody. Minor, well-controlled mental health issues probably won’t have much of an effect on custody; however, major mental health problems will. 1. A parent who is mentally ill, and whose mental illness affects the child, can be unfit. When a court makes a determination in a custody dispute, they generally do so with the aim of allowing the child to continue his relationship with both parents. While the laws of every state are different, there are some universal guidelines to follow in order to prove a parent is unfit. In a custody dispute, if one parent suffers from mental illness, the court will assess whether that mental illness impacts his or her fitness as a parent. Determining whether a parent is fit or not is a critical part of the judge's role and is the deciding factor on how the divorce decree sets out issues of custody and support. Reply . August 25, 2020. by Nina Zweig & Juliana Schatz Preston. The psychologist can recommend a custody schedule that is in the best interests of your child, based upon the test results and other findings. This relative would have to petition the court for custody/guardianship. Statistics have shown that the rates for loss of custody from parents with mental illnesses can be as high as 80 percent. Most of the grandparent custody cases that fail, fail because the parent is not unfit. Finding trusted and reliable insurance quotes and legal advice should be easy. The parties can agree, or the court can order, that the parties undergo extensive psychological testing and evaluations. Having a mentally ill parent in my house was like having a secret I never asked for. In Cook County specifically, if there are allegations that a parent suffers from mental health issues, depending upon the seriousness of the allegations, the parties could be ordered to Emergency Intervention. 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