SOCIAL INVESTIGATION · §61.20, FLA. STAT.
A clear look at what's best for your kids.
A Social Investigation is a court-ordered, comprehensive look at your family's day-to-day functioning — the homes, the routines, the relationships — and what the §61.13(3) best-interest factors look like in real life.
What a Social Investigation is.
If the court has ordered a Social Investigation, it means the judge wants someone to gather information from across the family system — both homes, both parents, the children, and the people who see them most — and produce a written report with recommendations.
Unlike a Guardian ad Litem, the Social Investigator is not a party to the case. The role is to evaluate, document, and report what the evidence supports, framed around the statutory factors the court is weighing.
Rooted in how families actually function day-to-day — not only in what either parent reports.
WHAT I LOOK AT
What goes into the investigation.
Each parent. Individual interviews, often more than once. The first conversation is rarely the most useful.
The children. Age-appropriate interviews and observations. We meet on their turf, at their pace.
The homes. A visit to each parent's residence, where I observe the environment, routines, and parent-child interaction.
Documents. Pleadings, school records, medical and behavioral health files, prior evaluations, DCF reports — anything the parties or the court provide.
Collateral sources. Conversations with the people who see your kids — teachers, pediatricians, therapists, coaches — with each parent's authorization.
Optional testing. Where useful, parenting and behavioral instruments administered in scope of license.
What's in the report.
Florida law gives the court a list of factors to weigh when deciding parenting matters — twenty of them, set out in §61.13(3). The Social Investigation report walks through each factor in turn: observations from the investigation, then analysis of how those observations relate to the factor, then recommendations at the end.
The point is to give the judge a single document that's useful at hearing — facts up front, analysis in the middle, recommendations in plain language at the end. Both parties' counsel receive copies; the report is filed with the court when the order requires.
WHAT I BRING
The clinical lens in this work.
The legal standards are clear. Translating them into observation about a real family — that's where clinical training matters.
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Recommendations grounded in what a child actually needs at their age — not in adult assumptions about what looks "fair."
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A trained eye for anxiety, attachment, trauma response, and patterns of regulation — across both parents and children.
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How each family member's role and behavior shapes the whole. The child rarely arrives at the dispute alone.
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A decade-plus of in-home and school-based work with families before they reached a courtroom.
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Identifying what's keeping the children safe and stable — and what's quietly putting that at risk.
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Translating what's observed into recommendations about the child's well-being and long-term stability.
BEYOND THE OFFICE
I've spent more than a decade as an Intensive In-Community provider, working with families in their kitchens, on their porches, and in their schools. That's where I learned what a parenting plan actually looks like at 7 a.m. on a school morning.
How you can help the process.
Bring documents to the first meeting. School reports, evaluations, medical records, prior orders, anything that helps tell the story.
Be honest, even about the hard things. The investigation is more useful — and your case is stronger — when the picture is complete.
Make your kids accessible. Teachers, doctors, therapists. With your authorization, I'll reach out to the people who see them.
Keep the litigation out of conversations the kids don't need to be in. The most useful thing you can give them right now is steady ground.
What to expect on timing.
Most Social Investigations run 8 to 14 weeks from retainer to filed report. Complex cases — high conflict, multiple children, relocation analysis, substantial document volume — run longer. After the first reading of your file, I'll give you a specific estimate so you and your attorney can plan around it.
Let’s get started
Change begins with one simple conversation. Whether you're navigating a court order, preparing your firm for the next case, or somewhere in between — I'm here to help.