If you are in the middle of a custody case, you have probably been told to get your kid into counseling, or handed a court order with the word therapy in it, or advised to find someone who will write something helpful for your file. Those are three different requests, and only one of them is something we can do.
This page exists so you don't spend a phone call finding that out. It is also here for attorneys and other professionals who need to know exactly where our role starts and stops before they refer someone to us.
Life Discovery Counseling Services is an outpatient treatment practice. Our clinicians are therapists. Their job is to help the person in front of them get better.
Forensic work is a different profession that happens to use some of the same training. A forensic evaluator's job is to answer a legal question for a court, impartially, and hand the answer to both attorneys. The two roles are structurally incompatible, and every major set of professional standards in this area (the American Psychological Association's guidelines for child custody evaluations, the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts model standards, and the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers standards) says the same thing: the treating therapist should not serve as the evaluator in the same case.
Oregon's own rules point the same direction. The administrative rule governing social workers who conduct custody and parenting time evaluations requires impartiality, and requires the evaluator to hand the case to someone else the moment impartiality cannot be maintained. Your child's therapist is not impartial about your child. That is the point of a therapist.
What it is: Treatment. A clinical relationship aimed at helping a child, a parent, or a family function better.
Who the client is: The person or family in the room.
Confidential: Yes, with the standard legal exceptions.
Who provides it: Any licensed therapist (LPC, LMFT, LCSW) or a supervised associate.
Produces a custody recommendation: Never.
This is what we do. See divorce and custody support and child and teen counseling.
What it is: A forensic assessment that answers a legal question for the court. The evaluator interviews both parents and the children, contacts collateral sources such as teachers and doctors, reviews records, frequently administers psychological testing, and produces a written report.
Who the client is: The court.
Confidential: No. The report goes to the court and to both attorneys.
Cost: Private pay, typically several thousand dollars.
Who provides it: A court-appointed qualified expert. In Oregon these evaluations are ordered under ORS 107.425, which allows the court to order an independent psychological, psychiatric, or mental health examination by a qualified expert selected by agreement of the parties or appointed by the court. In practice most Oregon custody evaluators are doctoral-level psychologists, in part because psychological testing is central to the work. Oregon rule also permits appropriately licensed social workers to conduct these evaluations within their scope of practice.
How to find one: Ask your attorney first, since attorneys know which evaluators local judges accept and which have current availability. If you are self-represented, start with your county's family court services office and the Oregon Judicial Department's family law self-help resources. We do not maintain a referral list of evaluators and we do not make evaluator recommendations, because doing so in an active case would compromise our neutrality with families we may later treat.
What it is: A specialized, court-directed intervention aimed at rebuilding a parent-child relationship that has been severed or badly damaged, often after a long absence, an estrangement, allegations of alienation, or the lifting of a protective order.
Who the client is: Defined by the court order, which is one of the reasons the work usually requires one.
Confidential: Usually not. The therapist typically reports to the court and to both attorneys.
Who provides it: We want to be precise here rather than overstate the law. Oregon has no licensure category specific to reunification therapy. What the work actually requires is a clinician with forensic training in high-conflict family dynamics, a court order defining scope and authority, and a practice structured to operate inside active litigation. In the Pacific Northwest that is a genuinely small group of people.
Why we don't do it: We are a treatment practice and we intend to stay one. Reunification work done by a clinician without forensic training and without the protection of a court order tends to fail the same way every time: the treatment becomes evidence, the therapist becomes a witness, and the child is worse off than before anyone got involved. We would rather tell you no in the first phone call than take a case we cannot do well.
Where to look instead:
We do not maintain our own list of reunification therapists or custody evaluators, and we do not recommend specific providers. Doing so in an active case would compromise our neutrality with families we may later treat.
Parenting coordination. Custody or parenting time recommendations in any format, including letters. Expert testimony, or any professional opinion offered to a court. A clinical diagnosis in the treatment record is a fact of that treatment, not an opinion about your case. Advocacy letters intended to help one parent's position in litigation.
If a therapist is willing to write you a custody recommendation letter about a family they treat, that is not a favor. It is a red flag, and opposing counsel will treat it as one.
Three questions that will save you time:
1. Is there an open custody or divorce case? If yes, have your custody judgment or parenting plan available. We need to know who can consent to a child's treatment before we can schedule, and in Oregon that comes down to who holds legal custody, which is not always the parent the child lives with most.
2. Has a court ordered counseling? Send us the order before scheduling. Some orders call for treatment, which we may be able to provide. Others call for evaluation or reunification work, which we do not provide. We would rather read the order first than start something we have to stop.
3. What are you hoping counseling will accomplish? If the answer is that your child needs support through a hard season, we can probably help. If the answer is that you need documentation, a letter, or a professional opinion for your case, we are not the right practice, and no amount of good intent on our part will change that. We will tell you on the first call rather than the fifth session.
A note on consent: if you share legal custody, we generally require consent from both legal custodians or a court order before treating a child. Under Oregon law a minor 14 or older may consent to their own outpatient mental health treatment, with a requirement that a parent or guardian be involved before the end of treatment in most circumstances.
We take referrals for treatment in court-involved families and we are comfortable working alongside an active case. What you can expect from us:
Referral information for professionals is on our referrals page. Individual, couples, family, and child or teen therapy in Beaverton, Clackamas, and online across Oregon. Most major insurance accepted.
Questions about fit before you refer? Call (971) 808-2686 or email contact@lifedcs.com.
This page describes our practice's scope of services. It is general information, not legal advice. For questions about your specific case, consult a family law attorney.
A lawful subpoena can compel a treating therapist to appear, but only as a fact witness. That is a narrow role. We can testify to what we directly observed and did: dates of service, what was reported to us, what we saw in session, and the treatment we provided. What we cannot do is offer an opinion (aside from a clinical diagnosis already in the treatment record). Not about custody or parenting time, not about either parent's capacity or credibility, not about whether an allegation is true, and not about what outcome would be best for your child. Opinions written for a court come from a forensic evaluator, who is retained for that purpose, stays neutral between the parties, and gathers information from both sides. Professional standards do not allow the same clinician to be both your family's therapist and the expert in your case.
We do not write letters that recommend custody or parenting time, advocate for one parent, or offer an opinion about your case. Where properly authorized, we can provide a factual treatment summary: dates of service, presenting concerns, treatment focus, and attendance. If a therapist is willing to write a custody recommendation letter about a family they treat, opposing counsel will treat it as a red flag.
No. Custody and parenting time evaluations in Oregon are ordered under ORS 107.425 and conducted by a court-appointed qualified expert, most often a doctoral-level psychologist. Ask your attorney for a referral, or start with your county's family court services office and the Oregon Judicial Department's family law self-help resources.
No. Oregon has no licensure category specific to reunification therapy, but the work requires forensic training in high-conflict family dynamics, a court order defining scope, and a practice structured to operate inside litigation. We are a treatment practice. Start with your attorney, since the work usually requires a court order, and see the AFCC Oregon member directory for Oregon professionals listed by role.
Possibly. Send us the order before scheduling. Some orders call for treatment, which we may be able to provide. Others call for evaluation, reunification therapy, or parenting coordination, none of which we provide. Reading the order first prevents starting something we would have to stop.
Possibly, and this surprises people. Under Oregon law a parent who was not granted sole custody generally retains the right to consult with their child's treatment providers and to inspect and receive the child's psychological records to the same extent as the custodial parent, unless the court has ordered otherwise. Bring us your judgment so we can see whether it restricts that access.
We do not recommend specific providers. Doing so in an active case would compromise our neutrality with families we may later treat. Ask your attorney first, and see the AFCC Oregon member directory, which lists Oregon professionals by role. AFCC does not endorse individual providers, and you will need to vet fit and experience yourself.
Ready to get started? Call us at (971) 808-2686 or schedule online. Most new clients are seen within two to four weeks.
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