Guidelines for Forensic Psychologists - Essay Example

In addition to that, the consent for child’s forensic interviewing was not obtained as required by the guidelines specified for forensic interviewing (Larsson & Lamb, 2009). Hence, objectivity and unbiased approach in the findings and recommendations was lost. The inability of the psychologist to disclose the possible impacts of not being able to conduct mother’s examination on the reliability and validity of his report and testimony and failure to appropriately limit the nature and extent of his conclusions and recommendations, made the court penalize him financially and also required him to take extra classes of forensic psychology (Pennsylvania Department of State, 2007).

Although the consequences of the faulty evaluation and factors leading to identification of misconduct by forensic psychologist are unknown in this case. However, if the mother is considered incapable of having child’s custody, it can be assumed that the mother may not be physically and psychologically fit to act as a caregiver of that child. In the given case, the victim will be the child who would fail to have a necessary care and suitable child raising environment despite court’s attempt to provide him a secure environment and development opportunity.

In order to examine actions of Phillip Kinney in the light of guidelines provided by American Psychological Association for forensic psychiatry, there are various areas where Kinney has appeared to perform a breach to defined standards. A forensic psychologist is expected to have integrity which should make them strive for accuracy in their findings (APA, 2013). Secondly, Kinney’s failure to inspect mother and evaluate her ability for child custody indicated that his findings were impartial despite being the primary criteria defined by APA.

Considering the impact of personal beliefs on the case is also important however Kinney’s consideration of not examining mother and obtaining consent from all adults involved for child’s forensic interviewing indicated that he personally believed this practice to be unnecessary. APA’s guidelines also protect the rights of those who lack the capacity of providing informed consent. In the given case, Kinney’s failed to comply with this requirement by not obtaining formal consent from both the parents which ultimately favored mother putting child’s wellbeing in jeopardy.

Use of appropriate methods and procedures forms an important part of criteria defined by APA (2013) for forensic psychiatry. Kinney was accused of not obtaining information from multiple sources and obtain corroborative evidence. In addition to that, scenarios where there are persons involved in the case that are not examined by forensic psychologist, “forensic practitioners need to strive to make clear the impact of such limitations on the reliability and validity of their professional products, opinions, or testimony (APA, 2013, p. 34)”. Careful examination of this legal case and its corroboration with the guidelines provided by APA helps forensic interviewers to be aware of their obligations while performing in similar settings.

If I were the practicing forensic psychologist of this case, I would prefer to examine all the dimensions of this case by interviewing the adults involved. Missing out details about any of the parties would