Jessica Duesler, LCSW-BCD Expert Witness
Curriculum Vitae

Forensic Social Work, Child Welfare, CPS Expert

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Specialties & Experience of this Expert Witness

General Specialties:

Child Abuse and Social Work

Keywords/Search Terms:

child custody, child development, child abuse, neglect, Family separation, Trauma, Best interest, Mental health, Reasonable efforts, Forensic social work, Removal, Foster care, Reunification, Adoption, Attachment, Termination of parental rights, Kinship care, Social work, child protective services, CPS

Education:

LCSW-BCD,

Years in Practice:

20

Number of Times Deposed/Testified in Last 4 Yrs:

200

Additional Information

Jessica Duesler is a Board Certified Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Colorado, Utah, Texas, and Florida with nearly 20 years of experience. Holding certifications in Forensic Social Work and Multicultural and International Social Work Practice, other specialized expertise includes Adoption Trauma, Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health, Complex Trauma, the Harm of Removal, TPR, and Forensic Evaluations. Jessica's primary focus of work is centered around dependent and neglected children and domestic relations matters. She has also worked on juvenile delinquency and guardianship cases. Jessica's scope of work routinely involves legal advocacy, conducting mental health evaluations, child-focused trauma assessments, Parent-Child Interactional Evaluations, facilitating therapeutic out-of-home placement transitions, and serving as an expert witness throughout the country. Jessica is a certified Child & Family Investigator and Parental Responsibilities Evaluator. Jessica’s expert testimony has been heard in over 20 jurisdictions, most notably in the areas of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health, Childhood Trauma, Best Interest of the Child, and Adoption-Related Loss (among many others). Jessica’s extensive work with dependent and neglected children has allowed her to develop specialized knowledge about the psychological impact of child welfare permanency outcomes and the effects such outcomes have on a child’s mental, physical, and emotional well-being. In addition to her professional engagements, Jessica actively participates in organizations and agencies dedicated to abolishing structural racism in child welfare, and has been published in the National Association of Counsel for Children (NACC) law journal: The Guardian. Jessica currently serves as a peer reviewer for the Journal of Forensic Social Work, published by the National Organization of Forensic Social Work. Offering a wide range of services, Jessica also offers trainings, presentations, and expert witness testimony throughout the country.