Expert Witness
Solution Psychology offers expert assessments for the court anywhere in Scotland. As these are discrete pieces of work they are not limited by geography; solicitors from across Scotland are invited to make contact to discuss their requirements. Legal aid funded clients are welcome.
Dr Anne Woodhouse provides expert assessments and reports for legal cases involving children and parents. This is primarily in the field of family law. Dr Woodhouse has been doing expert reports for the courts since 1998. Examples of typical cases for which Dr Woodhouse can offer an expert opinion are:
- Contact and custody assessments for children involved in parental separation and divorce;
- Contact assessments for children in local authority care;
- Parenting assessments of parents with learning disabilities, or other vulnerabilities (e.g. mental health problems, brain injury);
- Assessments of parents in cases where children are subject to care proceedings;
- Permanence and adoption;
- Post-permanence contact, including via social media;
- Review of past decision-making by statutory bodies in cases where children are in care;
- Capacity assessments of children involved in legal proceedings.
Dr Woodhouse can offer training for solicitors, social workers, family mediators and other relevant professsions. She regularly provides training on parents with learning disabilities, good practice in expert psychology reports, attachment theory and its application in family law, psychological contributions to contact and custody decisions, permanence, adoption and post-adoption contact and parental alienation.
Dr Woodhouse's approach to expert assessments is outlined in:
Burke, C. and Woodhouse, A.E. (2019). The clinical psychologist as expert witness in family law. The Journal of the Law Society of Scotland, June 2019, which can be viewed here.
View more information about Dr Woodhouse’s qualifications, expertise and experience.
For psychological assessments of adults following road traffic accidents, industrial injury, crime, harassment and/or bullying, or other trauma, visit the Highland Psychology website as these are not provided by Solution Psychology.
Requests for expert reports will only be accepted from a solicitor. For more information, please view the Terms and Conditions page.
