Psychologist Privilege

The psychological privilege for minor children is a sensitive topic.  Many times children have issues with one or both parents following a  divorce.  Many times unfortunately, one parent tries to use the child against the other parent.  In these situations, it is important to get a court order waiving the psychological privilege for the minor child in the course of litigation.  Unfortunately, I have seen situations where the custodial parent will withhold privilege to the noncustodial parent making it impossible to see the results of treatment and confirm that the treating psychologist is getting the full picture on a case.  I recently had a case where the entire opinion of the psychologist changed once full disclosure of certain facts were made to him.  Treatment of this type is very fact sensitive, so without the waiver of privilege it is impossible to tell if the opinion given is correct or goes into the junk science category.