ALISSA SHERRY and LEGAL CONSENSUS, PLLC, violated Family Code 107.115 by charging an average of $50,000 in fees for the custody evaluation.
ALISSA SHERRY and LEGAL CONSENSUS, PLLC, violated the following Texas State Board of Examiners of Psychologists rules:
463.8- Licensed Psychological Assistant
c) must practice under the supervision of a licensed psychologist and may not practice independently, unless meet certification standards
465.4- Employment (LPA)
B (2) Data gathering, administering, proctoring, or scoring of NON-projective tests
465.2 Supervision
A (1) A licensee is responsible for the supervision of all individuals that the licensee employs or utilizes to provide psychological services of any kind.
(2) Licensees ensure that their supervisees have legal authority to provide psychological services.
(3) Licensees delegate only those responsibilities that supervisees may legally and competently perform.
465.9 Competency
(a) Licensees maintain current knowledge of scientific and professional information that ensures competency in every area in which they provide services.
(b) Licensees provide services in an unfamiliar area or involving new techniques only after first undertaking appropriate study and training, including supervision, and/or consultation from a professional competent to provide such services.
(c) In emerging areas in which generally recognized standards for preparatory training do not exist, licensees take reasonable steps to ensure the competence of their work and to protect patients, clients, research participants, and other affected individuals from the potential for harm.
(d) Licensees are responsible for ensuring that all individuals practicing under their supervision are competent to perform those services.
(e) Licensees who delegate performance of certain services such as test scoring are responsible for ensuring that the entity to whom the delegation is made is competent to perform those services.
(f) Licensees who lack the competency to provide particular psychological services to a specific individual must withdraw and refer the individual to a competent appropriate service provider.
(g) Licensees refrain from initiating or continuing to undertake an activity when they know or should know that there is a substantial likelihood that personal problems or conflicts will prevent them from performing their work-related activities or producing a psychological report in a competent and timely manner. When licensees become aware of such conflicts, they must immediately take appropriate measures, such as obtaining professional consultation or assistance in order to determine whether they should limit, suspend, or terminate the engagement in accordance with Board rule §465.21 of this title (relating to Termination of Services)
465.10. Basis for Scientific and Professional Judgments.
(h) Licensees rely on scientifically and professionally derived knowledge when making professional judgments.
465.11- Informed Consent.
(a) Except in an inpatient setting where a general consent has been signed, licensees must obtain and document in writing informed consent concerning all services they intend to provide to the patient, client or other recipient(s) of the psychological services prior to initiating the services, using language that is reasonably understandable to the recipients unless consent is precluded by applicable federal or state law.
(b) Licensees provide appropriate information as needed during the course of the services about changes in the nature of the services to the patient client or other recipient(s) of the services using language that is reasonably understandable to the recipient to ensure informed consent.
(c) Licensees provide appropriate information as needed, during the course of the services to the patient client and other recipient(s) and afterward if requested, to explain the results and conclusions reached concerning the services using language that is reasonably understandable to the recipient(s).
(d) When a licensee agrees to provide services to a person, group or organization at the request of a third party, the licensee clarifies to all of the parties the nature of the relationship between the licensee and each party at the outset of the service and at any time during the services that the circumstances change.
(f) At any time that a licensee knows or should know that he or she may be called on to perform potentially conflicting roles, the licensee explains the conflict to all affected parties and adjusts or withdraws from all professional services in accordance with Board rules and applicable state and federal law. Further, licensees who encounter personal problems or conflicts as described in Board rule 465.9(i) of this title that will prevent them from performing their work-related activities in a competent and timely manner must inform their clients of the personal problem or conflict and discuss appropriate termination and/or referral to ensure that the services are completed in a timely manner.
465.15- Fees and Financial Arrangements
(a) (3) Licensees shall not withhold records solely because payment has not been received unless specifically permitted by law.
(b) Ethical and Legal Requirements.
(2) Licensees do not misrepresent their fees.
(3) Licensees do not overcharge or otherwise exploit recipients of services or payers with respect to fees.
465.16- Evaluation, Assessment, Testing, and Reports
(b) Reliability and Validity
(3) Licensees who administer, score, interpret or utilize psychological assessment techniques, tests, or instruments do so in a manner and for purposes for which there are professional or scientific bases.
(4) Licensees do not base their assessment or intervention decisions or recommendations on data or test results that are outdated for the current purpose.
(5) Licensees do not base decisions or recommendations on tests and measures that are obsolete or not useful for the current purpose.
(c) Limitations
(3) Licensees identify various test factors and characteristics of the person being assessed that might affect their professional judgment or reduce the accuracy of their interpretations when interpreting assessment result, including automated interpretations.
465.18- Forensic Services
(a) (3) All forensic opinions, reports, assessments, and recommendations rendered by a licensees must be based on information and techniques sufficient to provide appropriate substantiation for each finding.
(a) (4) A licensee who provides forensic services must comply with all other applicable Board rules and state and federal law relating to the underlying areas of psychology relating to those services.
(b) (1) Limitation on Services- A licensee who is asked to provide an opinion concerning an area or matter about which the licensee does not have the appropriate knowledge and competency to render a professional opinion shall decline to render that opinion.
(c) Describing the Nature of Services. A licensee must document in writing that subject(s) of forensic evaluations or their parents have been informed of the following:
4) the estimated amount of the fees
7) The approximate length of time required to produce any reports or written results
(d)(3) - The role of the psychologist in a child custody forensic engagement is one of a professional expert. The psychologist cannot function as an advocate and must retain impartiality and objectivity
501.351- General Authority to Delegate
A - A psychologist licensed under this chapter may delegate to a provisionally licensed psychologist, a newly licensed psychologist who is not eligible for managed care panels, a person who holds a temporary license issued under Section 501.263
B - Delegating psychologist remains responsible. Individual administering the test must inform each patient that the person is being supervised by a licensed psychologist.
C - The board may determine whether the test/service may be properly and safely delegated.
ALISSA SHERRY and LEGAL CONSENSUS, PLLC, also violated the rules regarding Chapter 107 (Custody Evaluations):
Sec. 107.0512. SOCIAL STUDY EVALUATOR: CONFLICTS OF INTEREST AND BIAS.
(a) A social study evaluator who has a conflict of interest with any party in a disputed suit or who may be biased on the basis of previous knowledge, other than knowledge obtained in a court-ordered evaluation, shall: (1) decline to conduct a social study for the suit; or (2) disclose any issue or concern to the court before accepting the appointment or assignment.
b) A social study evaluator who has previously conducted a social study for a suit may conduct all subsequent evaluations in the suit unless the court finds that the evaluator is biased.
Sec. 107.0513. GENERAL PROVISIONS APPLICABLE TO CONDUCT OF SOCIAL STUDY AND PREPARATION OF REPORT.
(a) Unless otherwise directed by a court or prescribed by a provision of this title, a social study evaluator's actions in conducting a social study shall be in conformance with the professional standard of care applicable to the evaluator's licensure and any administrative rules, ethical standards, or guidelines adopted by the state agency that licenses the evaluator.
(c) A social study evaluator shall follow evidence-based practice methods and make use of current best evidence in making assessments and recommendations.
(e) To the extent possible, a social study evaluator shall verify each statement of fact pertinent to a social study and shall note the sources of verification and information in the report.
Sec. 107.0514. ELEMENTS OF SOCIAL STUDY.
(a) The basic elements of a social study under this subchapter consist of:
(2) an interview, conducted in a developmentally appropriate manner, of each child at issue in the suit who is at least four years of age;
(7) assessment of the relationship between each child at issue in the suit and each party seeking possession of or access to the child.
(b) The additional elements of a social study under this subchapter consist of:
1) balanced interviews and observation of each child at issue in the suit so that a child who is interviewed or observed while in the care of one party to the suit is also interviewed or observed while in the care of each other party to the suit;
(2) an interview of each individual residing in a residence subject to the social study;
(3) evaluation of the home environment of each party seeking conservatorship of a child at issue in the suit or possession of or access to the child, regardless of whether the home environment is in dispute.
(c) A social study evaluator may not offer an opinion regarding conservatorship of a child at issue in a suit or possession of or access to the child unless each basic element of a social study under Subsection (a) has been completed.
Sec. 107.112. COMMUNICATIONS AND RECORDKEEPING OF CHILD CUSTODY EVALUATOR.
(c) Except for records obtained from the department in accordance with Section 107.111, a private child custody evaluator shall, after completion of an evaluation and the preparation and filing of a child custody evaluation report under Section 107.113, make available in a reasonable time the evaluator's records relating to the evaluation on the written request of an attorney for a party, a party who does not have an attorney, and any person appointed under this chapter in the suit in which the evaluator conducted the evaluation, unless a court has issued an order restricting disclosure of the records.