Services We Provide

Loving

Psychological Services, L.L.C.

Frequently Asked Questions:

How can I make a referral for an evaluation or speak with someone about your services?

Simply call or email us (see our Office & Contacts tab). We will ask a few questions make sure we understand your situation & your evaluation needs. We will answer any questions you have about scheduling, cost, reports, privacy, coordination with other parties, etc.
LPS is a contracted provider for NJ Division of Child Protection & Permanency, & our evaluators are in the provider database used by the Office of Parental Representation & Office of the Law Guardian. If you are case manager, attorney, or other staff working for one of those offices, we are available to provide services to you.
If you are a person involved in a court matter, seeking an evaluation, we are happy to speak with you, discuss the situation, & decide if we can help. However, we typically ask to speak with your attorney or case manager before agreeing to any evaluation arrangements. This is so we can be sure we are providing exactly what has been court-ordered (if this applies).

Do you provide evaluations for people who are not involved with the courts?

Absolutely. Most of our current work happens to be with court-involved people or families, but all of our evaluators have extensive clinical experience, working with people in other situations. Call or email us to discuss specific arrangements, scheduling, & costs.

Do you offer therapy (or counseling)?

No. All of our psychologists have been therapists at other settings in the past, but at LPS, our main emphasis is on providing psychological evaluation and consultation services. If you are looking for a therapist, we welcome your call anyway, & we will gladly refer to a local therapist if we can.

I have been referred for a "forensic" evaluation. What does this mean?

To put it simply, "forensic" work is any work that is being done to help the Court (that is, the judge) in some way. So, our evaluations are commonly called forensic evaluations. This only means that we are providing an evaluation that is designed to give some specialized input that hopes to help the Court answer a certain question or make a decision.

I have never been involved in a psychological (or other) evaluation. What will be involved & what can I expect to occur?

This answer depends on your specific evaluation & needs. Typically, our psychological evaluations are scheduled to be completed in a single 3-hour session, but it is also possible to break the evaluation into shorter sessions. Evaluations usually include a lengthy interview with you (possibly with other involved people, such as relatives or case managers, depending on your situation, & with appropriate permissions). Evaluations also usually include psychological testing, which again varies depending on your situation (for example, intelligence testing, if relevant; questionnaires to help us collect more a detailed understanding of your symptoms or specific topics such as parenting experiences; other hands-on testing that helps us understand your way of seeing the world, problem-solving, & so on). Some evaluations include family observations or other specialized sessions. Especially for court-involved cases, evaluations generally include a review of professional records. We can explain all of this with you, including the reasons for these methods & any concerns you have.

Why is my evaluation appointment so long?

Our psychological evaluations are typically scheduled to last 3 hours. Parenting capacity evaluations are 4 hours plus a short break. See the previous question/answer for an explanation as to why these sessions take so long, but please also know we are willing to work with any concerns or scheduling issues you have. It is sometimes possible to break an evaluation into two shorter sessions, but without that request we assume that you would prefer to come to our office just once and complete everything on one day. Because our sessions are so long, we expect you'll need some short breaks, and of course that is fine. We also welcome you to bring a snack, a bag lunch, etc., to make your time with us as comfortable as possible.

What is a parenting capacity evaluation, & how is it different than a psychological evaluation?

Court-involved parents are often referred for evaluations to help understand a specific problem, to assess risk in some area, or to help with case planning. As we see it, most Family Court referral questions can be addressed with a psychological evaluation (that is, a single session that includes interviewing, testing, also review of records). A parenting capacity evaluation is essentially a psychological evaluation that also includes a parent-child observation session & also more in-depth assessment of hands-on parenting issues (for example, child management difficulties, parent-child relationship problems). At LPS, both types of evaluations are usually scheduled to take place on a single day, but parenting capacity evaluations are longer (for example, 3 hours for the parent to complete interviewing & testing, a short break, then the child arrives for a 1-hour parent-child observation session).

My child & I have been referred to a bonding evaluation. What is this & what can I expect?

Family Court sometimes refers a child (or children) to a bonding evaluation with her parent, caregivers, a relative interested in adopting, or some other important adult. Children are sometimes referred to a series of bonding evaluations (for example, one with each parent, also one with caregivers who are willing to adopt if parental rights are terminated). The purpose of a bonding evaluation can vary, but it is usually to understand the strength & quality of the child's emotional attachment to the adult. If you are attending a bonding evaluation with a young child, you can expect a one-hour appointment that is structured to be essentially a "visit," as we ask you to spend time playing, talking, snacking, or doing whatever else might be natural. Our office includes a play area, but you are also welcome to bring toys, snacks, etc. During the session, we will be in the room, observing to see how the child responds to you: Does she seem familiar, comfortable, & close with you? Some of the session will also include interviewing, which is very often even more important & useful than the observation. We'll want to know how long the child has been living with you, how she interacts during your day-to-day life, what concerns you have, & other detailed information that can help us understand her attachment experiences.

For our bonding evaluation, how can a one-hour observation tell you anything meaningful about my child's attachment to me? Isn't this too artificial and too limited to be meaningful?

This is a common question, & we completely agree with the concern. As we see it, the observation session is nothing more than a one-time "behavior sample." Sometimes the session is incredibly useful, but honestly, sometimes it is not a good reflection of a child's "real-life" behavior or family interactions. This is why we also value background information that we collect from interviewing & from professional records. For example, for parents who are separated from their children but visit on a regular basis, we typically collect several weeks or months of visitation observation records. By collecting that type of outside information, we attempt to place our one-time observation into a longer-range, real-world context. We hope that your observation is as natural & comfortable as possible, so we welcome you to bring play supplies, snacks, etc., to the session. We also typically check in after sessions, asking you to let us know if your child's interactions were natural and typical for her.

After I attend an evaluation, can I receive a copy of the report?

Evaluations are usually summarized in a written report, which is provided to you &/or to the professionals who have referred you. For clinical (non-court-involved) evaluations, we typically provide the report directly to you & arrange a feedback session to discuss the evaluation findings. For court-involved cases, the arrangements are often more complicated, because often we are only allow to provide the report to the specific attorney or agency who has hired us. We write every report with the expectation that you will read it, but we often are not allowed to provide it to you directly. Because every case is different, we make a point of discussing these arrangements at the start of your session (or at the time you first contact us to request an evaluation, if necessary).

Do you accept medical insurance?

No, unfortunately we do not accept medical insurance. In fact, most of our work is court-involved, instead of being provided for treatment purposes, and generally insurance providers do not cover forensic services.