Legal Question in Family Law in Maryland

Can parent waive psychologist-child privilege ?

My fiancee has legal and physical custody of his 5 year old son. The child's bio mother is only permitted supervised visitation, as her two teenage sons from a previous marriage have physically and sexually assaulted him (proven in court). She refuses to believe this fact, and continually defies Court orders, bringing her sons around the 5 year old. We have no physical proof of these violations, though the 5 year old has been in weekly counseling for seven months, where he has repeatedly detailed his bio mother's actions. His psychologist says his behavior is regressing due to visitations with his bio mother and constant reminders of his abusers. The Judge will not appoint an attorney for the child. We cannot testify about the five year old's admissions, which consistently show the bio mother's blatant violations of the Court orders. Is there a way to waive the confidentialty of visits with his psychologist, as she has valuable information the Court needs to hear, but we cannot get the information out.


Asked on 7/04/00, 10:19 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Carolyn Press Chung & Press. P.C.

Re: Can parent waive psychologist-child privilege ?

It isn't clear to me now the mother can defy an order prohibiting the older children from being around the five year old during supervised visitation. Who is supervising? Isn't the presence of the older children evident to the supervisor? As for the psychologist, you can bring her to court as an expert witness to testify about the harm being done to the child. If the mother is violating court orders your fiance can get back into court by filing a contempt action, and if his child is being harmed he can ask for an emergency or expedited hearing. Furthermore, if the mother is putting the child at risk of further harm during visitation, a report to the Child Protective Services people in the Department of Social Services will trigger an investigation by them, and the investigator, who will most likely talk to the boy, will testify in court with no problems about hearsay or confidentiality. Get this matter to your attorney right away.

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Answered on 9/07/00, 4:23 pm


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