Ethical Issues of Guardianship
Evaluations continued from page 10
• Question : As the child ’ s therapist , you have been asked to provide a recommendation regarding whether guardianship is appropriate in this situation . ( Your recommendation is not expected to include whether or not the parents would likely be suitable guardians .) What are you allowed to do as a mental health counseling professional ? Is it ethically appropriate for you to make this type of recommendation ?
• Answer : Ethically speaking , it would be inappropriate for you to give a guardianship recommendation with this particular client . Here ’ s why . According AMHCA ’ s Code of Ethics , “ CMHCs do not typically provide forensic evaluations for individuals whom they are currently counseling or have counseled in the past . Conversely , CMHCs do not typically counsel individuals they are currently evaluating , or have evaluated in the past , for forensic purposes .” ( Part I , Section D . 4 . g )
A guardianship evaluation is a forensic evaluation , meaning related to a court . So , because you are providing counseling to a client who is the subject of a proposed guardianship evaluation , it would be inappropriate for you to evaluate the client you are counseling for guardianship .
STEPS FOR CONDUCTING HIGH-QUALITY GUARDIANSHIP EVALUATIONS
Counseling professionals are sometimes hired to determine whether someone needs to be placed under a guardianship . If you determine that a person lacks the capacity to make decisions for themselves , their rights will be restricted — a huge consequence for the person involved . Therefore , it is important that as an ethical practitioner , you conduct the evaluation with the dignity of the person in mind .
At its most fundamental level , a high-quality guardianship evaluation depends on the evaluator making an informed decision . To do that , you need to ensure that you acquire sufficient information on which to base your recommendation . Gathering sufficient information is best done by following a
standard set of procedures . Here is the process that I use when conducting guardianship evaluations :
• First , ensure that you are not taking on a guardianship role with an implicit or explicit intention of being an advocate for clients with disabilities . While such advocacy is essential in a therapeutic counseling role , it is not appropriate in a forensic evaluation role , which expects evaluators to be advocates of the truth ( i . e ., they are required to give objective answers to psycho-legal questions ). As AMHCA ’ s Code of Ethics states : “ Forensic CMHCs do not act as an advocate for the legal system , perpetrators , or victims of criminal activity .” ( Part I , D . 4 . h )
• Next , go into the evaluation with an open mind . I intentionally do not form any opinions as to the capacity or incapacity of the person I ’ m evaluating until after I have collected all of the information .
• Take time to create a good pre-evaluation plan , which involves reviewing any collateral documentation . At a minimum , review any court orders and the petition itself . Be sure to list the actual questions you will ask in the evaluation and to identify the sources from which you will gather information . Keep in mind when planning each evaluation that “ CMHCs base their diagnoses and other assessment summaries on multiple sources of data whenever possible .” ( Code of Ethics , Part I , D . 2 . a )
• As part of the evaluation , I do a standard psychosocial interview with the person I am evaluating . During the psychosocial interview , I have found that it ’ s important to include a mental status exam .
• These types of evaluations depend on the tools and measures that evaluators use to determine whether and how clients ’ symptoms affect their ability to function . ( See the box on page 12 .) Depending on the context of the evaluation , I might utilize other types of testing and assessment to identify symptoms , such as a Personality Assessment Inventory ( PAI ) or other types of personality assessments . If the person has had any IQ testing , I will typically try to review those results , but I generally do not conduct an IQ test during my evaluation .
• Another valuable component of this type of evaluation is interviewing collateral people who know the subject of
continued on page 12 The Advocate Magazine 2022 , Issue # 2 American Mental Health Counselors Association ( AMHCA ) www . amhca . org
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