A couple is seeing a social worker for marriage counseling. After several months, they decide to end their marriage and ask the social worker to make a child custody recommendation to the court because they feel that she is best suited to make suggestions since she has worked with the couple for so long. The social worker should:

The process and goals for completion of a child custody evaluation are vastly different than those used in marriage counseling. Making child custody recommendations would be inappropriate because both parties were not informed from the onset that discussions and information collected would be used for this purpose. In addition, both parties are current counseling clients. Often child custody evaluation recommendations are not favorable and/or acceptable to both parents. Providing such a recommendation may, therefore, not be in the best interest or promote positive well-being for one or both of the current clients.