Commonly, parents are required to participate in these types of assessment due to on-going substance use disorder by a parent, or a situation where child endangerment has occurred.
A parental fitness assessment is a specialized psychological evaluation, typically ordered by a court, and used to assess the capacity of a parent to parent their children. Often times, this evaluation is ordered by a court as part of a termination of parental rights case or in the course of determining a parent’s ability to assume custody of their children in a custody dispute. Parents involved in DCFS cases are often required to obtain a parental fitness evaluation.