This timely and authoritative sourcebook covers issues ranging from child custody to litigation concerns as it walks clinicians through the legal thickets of depositions and courtroom testimony. Principles and Practice of Child and Adolescent Forensic Mental Health expands on its predecessor volume Principles and Practice of Child and Adolescent Forensic Psychiatry, winner of the 2003 Manfred S. Guttmacher Award, to address twenty-first-century concerns, from telepsychiatry to the Internet, while continuing to cover basic issues such as forensic evaluation, psychological screening, and the interviewing of children for suspected sexual abuse.

Many of the chapters have been entirely rewritten by new authors to provide fresh insight into such topics as child custody; juvenile law; abuse, neglect, and permanent wardship cases; transcultural, transracial, and gay and lesbian parenting and adoption; and the reliability and suggestibility of children’s statements. The book also includes significant new material not found in the previous volume: two chapters on special education, a chapter on cultural competence, three new chapters on youth violence, a chapter on psychiatric malpractice and professional liability, and a chapter on psychological autopsy. A newly written chapter on the Internet addresses issues ranging from online threats to emotional and legal consequences of interactions in cyberspace.