Forensic Services

Lepage Associates is home to a comprehensive Forensic Services Division. We have done 100s of forensic evaluations over the past 20+ years and provided therapy for a variety of forensically involved clients. Our doctors have testified as expert witnesses and/or acted as forensic consultants to attorneys for numerous cases to include those in family, civil, criminal, and military courts.

TRUSTED SENIOR LEADERSHIP – SKILLED FORENSIC EVALUATORS:As a group practice with several clinicians experienced in forensic evaluations and forensic therapy cases, our evaluators and therapists have a broad range of knowledge and experience they bring to our team. Dr. Lepage began working in forensics over 20 years ago and is well known for her ability to decipher clinically complex cases. With her high standards for quality of reports and timely completion, she leads her forensic evaluation team to produce the highest quality work.

• Overview of Forensic Services
  • FAMILY COURT EVALUATIONS & MEDIATION
    • Custody Evaluations
    • Visitation Evaluations & Visitation Risk Assessments
    • Parental Competency Evaluations Functioning
    • Effect of Parenting on Child Evaluations
    • Legal Guardianship Evaluations
    • Grandparent Visitation Assessments
    • Child Abuse Evaluations
    • Termination of Parental Rights
    • Adoption Readiness Evaluations
    • Egg Donor Evaluations
    • Mediation of Parental Conflicts
    • Parenting Plan Assistance/Consults
    • Coaching for Cooperative Co-Parenting
    • Coaching for Parallel Parenting
    • Parent Coordinator services
  • CIVIL FORENSIC EVALUATIONS – ADULT & JUVENILE
    • Fitness for Duty/Return to Work
    • Adoption Readiness Evaluations
    • Egg Donor Evaluations
    • Immigration Evaluations
    • Civil Competency/Capacity Evaluations (financial, medical decision-making)
    • Competency to Execute Will / Power of Attorney: Financial Competency
    • Competency Regarding Guardianship of Incapacitated Individual
    • Evaluation to Determine Previous Determination of Incompetency No Longer Apples
    • Psychological & Substance Abuse Evaluations
    • Independent Medical Examinations (Second Opinion Evaluations)
    • Personal Injury Evaluations
    • Disability Determination
    • Psychological Factors in Harassment, Sexual Harassment, and Discrimination
    • Worker’s Compensation
    • Impact of Trauma Assessments
  • CRIMINAL FORENSIC EVALUATIONS – ADULT & JUVENILE
    • Psychological Evaluation
    • Substance Abuse Evaluation
    • Risk Assessment
    • Sentencing/Dispositional Assessment
    • Suicide Risk Assessment
    • Child Abuser Evaluations
    • Sex Offender Evaluations
    • Competency to Stand Trial Evaluations
    • Mitigation/Diminished Capacity
    • Juvenile Competence/Miranda Waiver
    • Juvenile Waiver Hearing (Transfer to Adult Court)
    • Reliability of Child Witness
    • Assessment of Mitigating Factors
    • Death Penalty Evaluations
  • THERAPY SERVICES FOR ALL AGES
    • For defendants, offenders, plaintiffs, and victims
    • Post-trauma, depression, anxiety, phobias, and all other psychological and family issues
    • Crisis and supportive
    • Counseling for victims
    • Anger Management
    • Court-Ordered Treatment
    • Diversion: Juvenile Delinquency
    • Substance Abuse Treatment
    • Family Therapy
    • Reunification Therapy
    • Parenting Skills: Parent Education & Coaching
    • Therapeutic Supervised Visitation
    • Therapy for adults, teens, and children
    • Unique setting; for those who need a different approach we have walking trails, outdoor therapy space, pool table, media room, and games
  • CONSULTATION SERVICES FOR PROFESSIONALS
    • For Attorneys, Probation/Parole Officers, and Correctional/Police Officers on Mental Health issues
    • For Mental Health Practitioners on the Criminal Justice System, Navigating Courts, and Testimony
• Forensic Evaluations

  DESCRIPTIONS OF FORENSIC EVALUATIONS

  DESCRIPTIONS OF THE MOST COMMONLY USED FORENSIC EVALUATIONS
  USED IN ALL COURTS (FAMILY, CIVIL, CRIMINAL)
  
  (Full/Expanded) Psychological Evaluation: Includes: clinical interview; cognitive, emotional, personality and/or substance abuse testing; collateral calls; and review of records. Provides in-depth information on an individual’s functioning. Useful to help understand what a person is thinking and feeling, their underlying personality structure, intellectual strengths and limitations, coping skills or areas of weakness in coping, and why a person behaves as he or she does. An invaluable resource for providing diagnostic clarification and treatment recommendations. If substance abuse is being assessed or if there is a significant mental health or legal history of records to review, a full evaluation should be used.

  (Abbreviated) Psychological Evaluation: Includes: clinical interview; emotional and personality testing; collateral calls; and review of limited records. Provides information on an individual’s functioning. If previous cognitive testing exists or it seems cognitive limitations do not bear on the case, substance abuse is not an issue, and records to review are minimal, an abbreviated psychological evaluation can be used.

  Full Battery: Combined Full Psychological (described above) plus Full Psychoeducational (which tests for AD/HD, LD-Learning Differences, and Autism Spectrum). The most comprehensive testing battery available, to determine in-depth all cognitive, educational, emotional and personality factors affecting a person.

  USED IN FAMILY COURT
  Custody Evaluation: Includes diagnostic interviews with parents, child(ren), and any step parents; psychological testing of parents and children; parent-child observations of all parent-child dyads; and collateral contacts and records review. Results provide in-depth information on child’s developmental stage, psychological functioning and needs, and on parents’ psychological functioning and parenting abilities and functioning. Our Custody Evaluations page has in-
  depth information.

  Parental Capacity Evaluation: Includes diagnostic interview with parent and child if child is old enough, psychological testing of parent, parent-child observation, and collateral contacts and records review. Results provide in-depth information on the parent’s psychological functioning and parenting abilities and functioning.

  Effect of Parenting on Child Functioning Evaluation: This is a psychological evaluation of the child in a family unit where there are concerns that one or both parents are negatively impacting the child’s functioning. This may involve concerns about the child’s behavior such as aggression, misbehaving, etc., or concerns about parental alienation. There may also be concerns that the parent’s behavior is impacting the development or maintenance of a mental health (depression, anxiety), eating, or substance abuse disorder. The evaluation includes a clinical interview and psychological testing with the child, clinical interview with the parents, observations with the child and each parent, and necessary collateral contacts.

  USED IN CIVIL COURT
  Civil Evaluations: In general, civil evaluations are typically some format of an abbreviated psychological, full psychological, or full battery depending on the case and what the needs are for amount and type of cognitive testing, emotional and personality testing, collateral contacts, review of collateral data, etc. As a full-service testing facility committed to excellence in evaluation, we own a large variety of test instruments and add to it regularly. Thus, our evaluation in your case is truly customized and will yield the most specific and useful information and results.

  Immigration: Depending on the question being asked, the procedures will vary. A clinical interview will always occur. Psychological testing, record review, and collateral calls may be required.

  Adoption Readiness: Includes a clinical interview covering information of childhood, employment, mental health history and current functioning, substance abuse history, legal history, and understanding of adoption. Administration of the MMPI-2 as required by agency; the MMPI-2 is a self-report measure used to screen for clinical and psychosocial disorders. Questions on the MMPI-2 are designed to evaluate the thoughts, emotions, attitudes, and behavioral traits that comprise personality, and results reflect an individual’s personality strengths and weaknesses and can identify certain disturbances of personality (that is, psychopathologies).

  USED IN CRIMINAL COURT
  Risk Assessment (RA): Full or abbreviated psychological evaluation or full battery, plus collateral contacts and records review, with analysis of level of risk for future behaviors and focus of recommendations on suggestions for reducing risk of continued delinquent or criminal behavior (to include domestic violence, child abuse, violent and non-violent criminal behavior, etc.)

  Competency to Stand Trial Evaluation/Waive Miranda Rights: Includes an in-depth clinical/competency interview to determine if the accused is competent to stand trial/waive Miranda rights, and records review or collateral contacts as necessary. To be used in court to assist judge with decisions regarding competency. (IQ testing and/or additional mental health testing can be added if needed.)

  Malingering Evaluation: Includes an in-depth clinical interview, testing specifically designed to detect malingering, and records review or collateral contacts as necessary to determine if the accused is likely malingering. Can focus on questions of mental health malingering, cognitive malingering, or both. Mitigation/Diminished Capacity: Mental state/functioning at the time of the offense. Includes an in-depth clinical interview to determine the mental capacity of the accused, and records review or collateral contacts as necessary. (IQ testing and/or additional mental health testing can be added if needed.)

  OTHER CIVIL, CRIMINAL, OR FAMILY COURT EVALUATIONS: Please call to inquire. Forensic Evaluation Fees

• Forensic Expertise Bios
  Forensic Expertise Bios
  
• Custody Evaluations
  Custody Evaluations
• Family Court Matters
  FOR SEPARATING & DIVORCING COUPLES
  Custody & Visitation Evaluations
  The Center for Separating with Civility & Divorcing with Dignity® (Click here for information on our unique divorce services center; the only Center in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area. Page contains a wealth of information regarding all facets of divorce: choosing the right process for you and your family; child issues; psychological and emotional issues.) Reunification Therapy
  Reunification Therapy is a form of family therapy designed to repair a rift between a parent and child. It is often court-ordered when a parent-child contact problem has culminated in the child refusing to spend time with one parent. This type of refusal is typically seen in separated or divorced families in which there is a ‘favored’ parent and a ‘rejected’ or ‘disenfranchised’ parent. It can also be entered voluntarily without any court order. The goal of reunification therapy is, as the name implies, to repair the relationship of a parent and child who have become disconnected in some way.

  FOR JUVENILE DELINQUENCY

  • Individual & Family Therapy
  • Evaluations to assist with diagnostic clarification and treatment recommendations
  • Psychological Evaluations
  • Risk Assessments
  • Substance Abuse Evaluations
  • Competency to Stand Trial Evaluations
• Civil Court Matters
  FOR DEFENDANTS (& OFFENDERS)

  • Psychological Evaluations
  • Risk Assessments
  • Substance Abuse Evaluations
  • Competency to Stand Trial Evaluations
  • Therapy
  • Anger Management
  • Out-patient therapy for substance abuse

  FOR PLAINTIFFS (& VICTIMS)

  • Psychological evaluations (to establish harm to psychological functioning, such as might be caused by stress and result in depression, anxiety, post-trauma symptoms, inability to work or otherwise function in daily life, etc.)
  • Therapy
• Criminal Court Matters
  FOR DEFENDANTS (&OFFENDERS)

  • Psychological Evaluations
  • Risk Assessments
  • Substance Abuse Evaluations
  • Competency to Stand Trial evaluations
  • Therapy
  • Anger Management
  • Out-patient therapy for substance abuse

  FOR PLAINTIFFS/VICTIMS

  • Psychological evaluations (to establish harm to psychological functioning, such as might be caused by stress and result in depression, anxiety, post-trauma symptoms, inability to work or otherwise function in daily life, etc)
  • Therapy
• Disability Determinations
  • For initial claimant hearings regarding entitlement to disability insurance benefits.
  • For reconsideration determinations for entitlement to benefits.
  • We offer written evaluations/opinions as well as expert testimony as needed.
• Deposition & Testimony
  We are happy to provide testimony should you and your attorney determine it would be helpful to your case. However, your attorney must subpoena us if you want us to be deposed or provide testimony; we will not appear without subpoena. Depositions and/or testimony as fact witness or as expert witness are billed at $350.00 per hour time spent preparing for and giving deposition and/or testimony, port to port. If you are receiving a court-ordered evaluation, depositions and testimony may be part of the services we are asked to provide as part of the evaluation; however, these are not covered under the flat fee of the evaluation. We will require a retainer up-front based on an estimate of time that we will provide, and we will not appear at deposition or in court without pre-payment of said retainer. If we over-estimate time needed any remaining retainer will be promptly returned within 48 business hours of deposition or testimony completion. To assure we are available for you, we require ten business days notice to appear at deposition or in court, to allow us time to clear our schedules, with the retainer due in full five business days in advance of appearance. We are happy to speak with your attorney to help determine if our testimony would be useful in your case.
  
• What is Forensic Psychology?
  Almost every area of psychology is relevant to some aspect of the law. For example, developmental psychology affects the study of the effects of divorce on children. Social Psychology affects the influence of group think on terrorism laws. Clinical psychology influences the prediction of dangerousness in the mentally ill. Cognitive psychology influences the study of the reliability of memory in eyewitness testimony. Psychology and the law have a long history dating back to the early 1900’s. However, the goals of the criminal justice system and psychology are fairly divergent.The goal of psychology is to provide a full and accurate explanation of human behavior while the goal of the criminal justice system or law is to regulate human behavior. Criminal justice depends on precedents while psychology believes our current understanding of human behavior should be revised in light of new data. Lawyers advocate for a particular view; psychologists remain objective and focus on what the data show. Given these differing objectives, one might wonder why psychology and the criminal justice system should merge.These two disciplines overlap simply because the criminal justice system shapes people and there are many inescapably psychological issues in the legal system. Such issues are generally studied by those who practice forensic psychology. Forensic psychology includes research that examines aspects of human behavior directly related to legal processes. It is the professional practice of psychology within or in consultation with a legal system that encompasses family, criminal, and civil law. Most forensic psychologists are clinical psychologists who receive continuing education and training in forensic psychology. Forensic psychologists also may be asked to testify as experts on a variety of topics such as mental health diagnosis, treatment efficacy, and the impact of trauma on an individual.
  
• Forensic Articles
  Forensic Articles
  
• Archived Forensic Newsletters
  Archived Forensic Newsletters