APA: Ethical Code Violations

Here are the two statements I made at the press conference held 6/7/18 at the National Press Club.

National Press Club Statements by Dr. Childress

The days of acceptable professional ignorance are over. The field of forensic psychology is marked by extensive professional ignorance and gross professional negligence that is destroying the lives of children and families.

My next step under Standard 1.05 of the APA ethics code, which requires me to take steps when I become aware of ethical code violations by my professional colleagues, is to file a statement of concern with the APA’s ethics committee delineating the professional concerns regarding violations of Standards 2.01a, 9.01a, 2.03, and 3.04 within forensic psychology.

Furthermore, the entire field of forensic psychology is in violation of Principle D of the APA ethics code regarding Justice:

Principle D: Justice
Psychologists recognize that fairness and justice entitle all persons to access to and benefit from the contributions of psychology and to equal quality in the processes, procedures, and services being conducted by psychologists.

To require a $20,000 to $40,000 child custody evaluation as a mandate of professional psychology’s input into the court’s child custody decision-making is to limit “access to and benefit from the contributions of psychology” to only those families who can financially afford the excessive financial cost of a child custody evaluation ($20,000 to $40,000 per evaluation), in violation of Principle D of the APA ethics code.

Furthermore to conduct child custody evaluations that have zero inter-rater reliability denies “equal quality in the processes, procedures, and services being conducted by psychologists” in violation of Principle D of the APA ethics code.

Forensic psychology is in violation of Principle D of the APA ethics code on two separate counts. Once I get home I’ll begin working on a statement of concern to the APA’s ethics committee. We are just beginning this fight.

You think my kerfluffle with the Gardnerian PAS “experts” was something, it was merely prelude. Now the real battle begins – Dr. Childress takes on forensic psychology.

Psychologists are not allowed to be ignorant and incompetent. Psychologists are not allowed to destroy the lives of children and families because of their ignorance and incompetence.

The APA is now on the clock, as of June 6, 2018.

Silence is collusion. We demand that the APA stand up and support their own ethics code by issuing a press release to that effect. With each day that the APA does NOT publish a press release supporting Standard 2.01a of the APA ethics code relative to court-involved family conflict, as demanded in Article 4 of the Petition to the APA, they are colluding with the psychological abuse of children (DSM-5 V995.51 Child Psychological Abuse, Confirmed).

On June 7, 2018 the APA has been colluding with the psychological abuse of children for one day, in violation of the APA ethics code (Principle D, Standard 1.04, Standard 1.05, and Standard 3.04).

All psychologists, including those in the APA, are required by Standards 1.04 and 1.05 of the APA ethics code to do something when they become aware of ethical code violations by other psychologists. For the APA NOT to act in response to known ethical violations within forensic psychology is to cause harm to parents and children, in violation of Standard 3.04 of the APA ethics code, to “take reasonable steps to avoid harming their clients/patients… and to minimize harm where it is foreseeable and unavoidable.“

So all psychologists within the American Psychological Association organization who are now aware of the ethical code violations within forensic psychology as delineated in the Petition to the APA, are now, today and with each passing day, in violation of Standards 1.04 and 1.05 of the APA ethics code.

I am stone-cold serious.

Psychologists are not allowed by the APA ethics code to be ignorant and incompetent, and to destroy the lives of children and families because of their ignorance and incompetence.

We own the high-ground of the APA ethics code. We are going to cleanse the pathogen from the APA and restore the American Psychological Association as your rightful ally in protecting your children.

Craig Childress, Psy.D.
Clinical Psychologist, PSY 18857