Thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University. Available for loan from the Turitea Campus library.

This is the first known study of psychologists and their evaluations of children specifically subject to care and protection Family Court custody proceedings, and replicates and extends some overseas research. The Family Court refers to these psychologists as report writers. The evaluations are referred to as s178 of the Children, Young Persons, and Their Families Act (1989) psychological reports. Overall, report writers in this study meet the criteria to be considered as forensic experts. When compared to overseas studies (for example, LaFortune & Carpenter, 1998), the most popular evaluation procedures used here were similar, with the exception of the use of test instruments. This research extends the study of Jameson, Ehrenberg, and Hunter (1997) that looked into factors relating to the best interests of the child standard. Participants were also surveyed concerning the mandatory reporting of child abuse. The majority do not favour its introduction. If such a policy were to be introduced, the majority of participants want professionals to interact with children, particularly medical doctors and school teachers, to report confirmed incidents of physical abuse, sexual abuse, and the neglect of physical needs.--AUTHOR'S ABSTRACT

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