[Problems in expert assessment in child custody cases according to sections 1666, 1666a BGB in the controversy between control and assistance].

The restriction of parental rights includes not only legal but also therapeutic aspects. The therapeutic aspects refer first to the child's disorder and then to its resulting needs. Furthermore a restriction of parental rights could be necessary for therapeutic reasons when the parents' reaction to reality is insufficient, usually caused by parental psychiatric disorders. The expert's counsel should facilitate the communication with disturbed parents thus engendering an improved reality-insight by the parents. Successful helping strategies can thus be made workable. The expert, the judge and the local authority social services should mutually respect specifically defined role-functions. The communication barriers between parents and helpers can only this way be partially resolved. The expert's evidence requires a high professional competence and responsibility and goes over and above the professional contribution from family therapy.