Shrink says order cannot be done

I have been trying to find a psychologist who is willing to do a court-ordered evaluation, and who also is acceptable to my ex-wife. So far she has rejected everyone whom I have found.

Another psychologist just rejected us. I thought that she was going to be willing to do it. But she said that she consulted a lawyer who said that the court order violates ethical rules in two ways. Therefore she is refusing to do the order as written.

I think that she is wrong about those rules, and I challenged her to show me the rules. She seemed to be referring to these AFCC standards, but I don't see the problem. She promised to send the rule to me. (I will be surprised if she does.)

In spite of these problems, she did have a proposal. She suggested that she get appointed by the court to carry out the invalid order, and then she would make her own motion to the court to change the order to something more to her liking. I was flabbergasted that a forensic psychologist would suggest anything so silly. Her suggestion is illegal and unworkable for several reasons. My ex-wife and I are not going to hire her to do a job that she says is invalid and unethical. And she even got a lawyer's advice before proposing this!

I tried to explain to her that the Santa Cruz family court uses a boilerplate form, that it is acceptable to other psychologists, that I have no control over the order, and that five attempts to clarify the order have already been denied. But she seemed incapable of addressing anything I said, and could only respond in platitudes like "whatever I do will be in the best interests of the child". Sigh.

No matter whose side you take, something is seriously wrong if the Santa Cruz family court is routinely making court orders to psychologists, and those psychologists are getting legal opinions that the orders are invalid. A court order for an evaluation should not be directly contrary to what the psychologist thinks is her professional ethics.

I am scheduled to appear in family court on Monday morning. I have notified my ex-wife that I will be telling the court that I have found four psychologists to do the evaluation, and she has refused all of them, without any good reason. Her position seems to be that she does not want to be evaluated, and she has made a separate motion to the court for that purpose.