Child and Family Evaluations

• Why choose Carolina Care and Counseling (CC&C) for your CFE:
  • When requesting a CFE from CC&C you can expect to receive efficient scheduling, a thorough day of evaluations with minimal impact on your daily schedule, and a listening ear from an ethical professional that values you and your knowledge of the case.   CC&C has three credentialed clinicians available as CFE examiners.  A male or female clinician is assigned based on the child’s gender, age, and/or comfort level.  You can expect to receive a comprehensive report, with specific recommendations in 2-3 weeks.
• What is a CFE?
  • A comprehensive evaluation of children who are alleged to have been abused and/or neglected.  To include interviews with the alleged victim, family members, alleged perpetrator, social worker, and other relevant professionals involved in the case, as well review of any records obtained.  CC&C integrates information from the various sources to address relevant referral questions provided by you and offer specific recommendations based on those referral questions.
  • A CFE is NOT… a Psychological Evaluation.  It is beyond the scope of a CFE to provide a diagnostic assessment of one’s mental health and/or developmental level. 
  • A CFE is NOT… a Custody Evaluation.  It is beyond the scope of a CFE to comment on one parent’s ability to appropriately parent over another.  However, if there are concerns regarding mental health, developmental functioning, and/or parenting skills those issues will be thoroughly addressed in the recommendations section of the report.
• To Schedule a CFE:
  • A CFE can only be requested by a county Department of Social Services through the Child and Family Evaluation Program (NC CFEP) at UNC-Chapel Hill.  Fax referral forms to NC CFEP (919) 843-9368.  You can download the referral documents from our website. If you do not hear from NC CFEP with approval for the CFE or you need assistance in completing the paperwork, contact NC CFEP directly at (919) 843-9365.
  • After receiving approval from NC CFEP, fax the completed referral/approval forms, including the completed CFE paperwork and the signed parent consent forms to CC&C at (919) 676-1430.
  • Our office staff will then contact the DSS Social Worker identified on the paperwork to conduct an intake and schedule a day for the evaluation.  A clinician from CC&C will then be scheduled to come to your agency to conduct the evaluation.
•  What to expect on the day of the evaluation:
  • A CC&C clinician will meet with the DSS Social Worker for approximately 30 minutes to review the case.
  • A CC&C clinician will then interview adults/children that were scheduled for that day.  In the event, additional family members show up for an interview, the clinician will determine by time available and necessity as to whether these individuals will also be interviewed.
  • The adult interviews take anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 hour.
  • The child interviews are done in two parts. Each interview could be anywhere from 15 minutes to 1 hour depending on the child’s age, developmental level, and ability to provide a detailed disclosure.
  • After the interviews are complete the CC&C clinician will provide the DSS Social Worker with initial impressions and recommendations.
  • If any interviewees are unable to attend their scheduled appointment or if there are collateral contacts, the CC&C clinician will attempt to contact them via telephone.
•  When you receive the report in 2-3 weeks, you can expect:
  • A detailed summary of any records provided to the examiner, details of each individual’s interview, results of child behavior checklist/limited psychological testing, hypotheses considered in regards to the presence of abuse, direct responses to your referral questions, and recommendations for the child and family.
  • Our conclusions are based on a “Continuum of Certainty” that is provided to CC&C by the NC CFEP.  Allegation is:     ________________^_______________^_______________^_______________^_______________^_______________                                             Highly Improbable                      Improbable               Possible                   Probable                   Highly Probable
• To ease the process for everyone:
  • Be prepared to have a 30 minute conversation with CC&C office staff to complete an intake and schedule the evaluation.
  • If you have any pertinent records (Child Medical Evaluation report, Psychological Evaluation report, DSS case notes, etc) please provide these to the examiner before the evaluation. They may be faxed with the referral documents to CC&C.
  • Inform the family that the evaluation may require them to be at Social Services for several hours.
  • Instruct parents that they should refrain from discussing the allegations of the case with their child prior to the CFE.  Parents CAN tell their child that they will be meeting with a professional that speaks with children about their families.
  • Be aware that the examiner will have to meet with all individuals (adults and children) individually.  Therefore, an extra caretaker may need to come along to look after the child while the parent/guardian is being interviewed.
  • A CC&C clinician will need a confidential space such as an office or conference room to conduct the interviews.  For the most efficient child interviews a room free of distraction is optimal.
  • CC&C can provide an interpreter if needed.  If your agency will be providing the interpreter please inform CC&C office staff when scheduling the evaluation.  Please be aware that interviews involving an interpreter may take longer to complete.

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