Marc J. Ackerman, Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist in the state of Wisconsin who has been involved in more than 2,700 family law and personal injury cases in Wisconsin and throughout the world. He has testified in hundreds of family law, personal injury, and sexual abuse cases in more than 35 states. His practice today is limited to forensic psychology consulting. Dr Ackerman codeveloped the Ackerman Schoendorf Scales for Parent Evaluation of Custody (ASPECT, 1992) and the Ackerman Schoendorf Scales for Parent Evaluation and Custody Short Form (ASPECT, 2000), published by Western Psychological Services and authoredClinicians Guide to Child Custody Evaluations, 3rd Edition, (Wiley 2006); Does Wednesday Mean Mom’s House or Dad’s?, 2nd Edition (Wiley, 2008), and Essentials of Forensic Psychological Assessment, 2nd Edition (Wiley 2010). In addition, he has co-authored Psychological Experts in Personal Injury Actions, 3rd Edition (Wolters Kluwer, 1998), and is an associate editor of the Journal of Child Custody. He has written for more than 50 publications and has presented more than 150 seminars and workshops throughout the world.
Dr. Ackerman has served as a founding faculty member and Dean, and former Director of Clinical Training, at the Wisconsin School of Professional Psychology and is the former Director of Clinical Training. He is currently a full clinical professor and Chair of the Forensic Psychology Program and was recently awarded Professor Emeritus status. He served as the president of the Wisconsin Psychological Association and the Wisconsin Psychology Foundation and was a member of the Board of Governors of the Wisconsin Society of Clinical and Consulting Psychologists. In addition, he has served on the Wisconsin Psychological Association’s Ethics Committee for seven years, chairing the committee for one year.
He is a member of the National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology, the American Psychological Association, the Southeastern Psychological Association, the Wisconsin Psychological Association, and the Milwaukee Areas Psychological Association. He holds a Certificate of Professional Qualification (CPQ) from the Association of State Provincial Psychology Boards (ASPPB). He has received awards from the Wisconsin Psychological Association for outstanding contributions to the advancement of psychology as an applied professional and for outstanding leadership. Finally, he serves as a member of the University of Georgia Graduate Education Advancement Board.
Andrew W. Kane, Ph.D., ABAP, is a licensed psychologist in private practice in Milwaukeee, Wisconsin. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Assessment Psychologists. He is listed in the National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology, and is a recipient of the Certificate of Professional Qualification in Psychology of the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards (ASPPB). Dr. Kane has been designated as an expert in more than 3,000 cases involving involuntary civil commitment, guardianship, family law, personal injury, children’s court, criminal court, and other cases.
Dr. Kane was a founding faculty member of the Wisconsin School of Professional Psychology, and is currently a professor at the School. He is also an adjunct clinical professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and an associate clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin. He is the author or coauthor of eleven books and more than five dozen professional papers and chapters.
Dr. Kane was a member of the Expert Panel on Psychiatric and Psychological Evidence of the American Bar Association’s Commission on Mental and Physical Disability Law. Dr. Kane is a former president of the Wisconsin Psychological Association and of its Division of Forensic and Correctional Psychologists. He is also a former president of the Milwaukee Area Psychological Association. Dr. Kane served as a member of the Board of Governors of the Wisconsin Society of Clinical and Consulting Psychologists as well. Dr. Kane served as the chair of the Professional Issues Committee, and for ten years as a member of the Ethics Committee, of the Wisconsin Psychological Association.
He is the Associate Editor for Psychology and the Chair of the Forensic Psychology Section of the journal Psychological Injury and Law. He is the Associate Vice President of the Association for Scientific Advance in Psychological Injury and Law (ASAPIL).
Dr. Kane founded the Wisconsin Coalition on Sexual Misconduct by Psychotherapists and Counselors, a national model program in this problem area.
Jonathan W. Gould, Ph.D., ABPP, is a board-certified forensic psychologist specializing in matters related to family law and works with attorneys across the country. Dr. Gould’s practice includes evaluation and consultation services to attorneys and courts pertaining to child custody matters. He conducts child custody and parental fitness evaluations as a court-appointed evaluator. He also provides review/critique services to attorneys interested in assessing the quality of forensic psychological assessments including, but not limited to, child custody, parental fitness, parental competency, relocation, maltreatment, domestic violence, child sexual abuse, and alienation.
Dr. Gould has written five books, several book chapters, and several dozen peer-reviewed articles that emphasize psychological ethics, forensic methods and procedures, providing clinical treatment in a forensic context, use of psychological tests in child custody, and assessment of complex issues in child custody evaluations such as alienation, child sexual abuse, domestic violence, child maltreatment. Included in his writings are topics such as relocation assessment in child custody matters, use of psychological tests in child custody assessment, procedures for interviewing children in forensic assessments, and development of parenting plans in custody decision making.
Dr. Gould’s most recent books are Conducting Scientifically Crafted Child Custody Evaluations, 2nd Edition (Professional Resource Press, 2006) and The Art and Science of Child Custody Evaluations, co-authored with David A. Martindale, Ph.D., ABPP (Guilford Publications, 2007).
Dr. Gould was an editorial board member and then an associate editor of the Journal of Child Custody for about a decade and continues to be a reviewer for other peer-reviewed journals and book publishers. Dr. Gould is on the faculty of the Houston Family Law Institute at the South Texas College of Law. He also teaches and lectures to attorneys, judges, and mental health professionals about issues related to child custody evaluation.
Milfred D. ‘‘Bud’’ Dale, Ph.D., J.D., is a licensed attorney and licensed psychologist in independent practices in Topeka, Kansas. He earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree in developmental and clinical-child psychology from The Ohio State University in 1987 and his Juris Doctor from Washburn University in 2006. His legal and psychology practices focus on helping families in conflict.
As a psychologist at The Menninger Clinic, Dr. Dale designed and directed three comprehensive treatment programs for children, teenagers, and their families before developing an outpatient private practice in 1995. In his outpatient practice, he performs therapy with children, teenagers, and adults. He conducts forensic evaluations and provides expert testimony in matters involving child custody, parenting, child in need of care, competence to stand trial, and juvenile and adult sex offenders. He is a certified mediator and provides parenting coordination and case management services. Dr. Dale also provides expert consultation to attorneys in complex child custody and parenting disputes.
As an attorney, Dr. Dale represents parents in domestic actions, including child custody, child in need of care, child support, divorce, and parenting plan modification actions. He is also a certified guardian ad litem who represents children and parents in child protection cases.
Dr. Dale is a frequent lecturer at state and national gatherings. His presentation and writing topics include attachment and parenting plans, attorney-expert relationships, constitutional issues in child protection cases, and paradigm shifts in child custody policy. He has organized statewide training conferences on alternative dispute resolution and case management for high-conflict families, as well as training for parent attorneys in child protection cases.
Dr. Dale currently serves as a reviewing editor for the American Bar Association’s Family Law Quarterly, sits on the editorial board of the Journal of Child Custody, and provides article reviews for the American Psychological Association journal Psychology, Public Policy & Law . Dr. Dale was a member of the Association of Family and Conciliation Court’s Think Tank on Shared Parenting and has recently been appointed to the AFCC Board of Directors.
