Dr. Phyllis Amabile, MD

I was terrified to have a 604(b) evaluation done. If you are having one of these ordered by a judge, so far in your divorce/custody journey things are not going well. I was scared adding an evaluation would be more confusion to all the professionals involved. I was scared my ex would manipulate the system to their advantage. Dr. Amabile sough out facts, was empathetic to both parties, saw potential in both parties, and spotted inaccuracies. Dr. Amabile was no stranger to manipulation and understood when she was being lied to. My children (ages 8-15) felt free, for the most part, to speak with her about their experiences. I know Dr. Amabile read all the documentation sent to her and sought to speak with both parties, other professionals, and take the necessary steps to gain more data in clarifying issues that were initially unclear to her. Dr. Amabile is not perfect, and perfection will not be the end result of this report, but she tries very hard to neutrally present clarity.

Dr. Amabile was appointed as a custody evaluator in my divorce and custody proceedings. Although her materials promote the claim that her custody evaluations often lead to settlement, in my case her lack of due diligence drastically prolonged the duration and expense of the litigation. She has an uncomfortable and off-putting manner with young children. Her final report was forty pages of he-said, she-said, followed by just six pages of analysis. The judge did not find Amabile's recommendations compelling.

Mentally unfit to practice any kind of medicine and certainly not capable of practicing psychiatry. Definitely has God complex. Extremely deceptive and incapable of telling truth from fiction. She is very dangerous and abuses the power she has and enjoys it. She's sick.

I wish I could write a 200 page report labeling her, based on 6 hours of cursory meetings— with psychiatric disturbances. And be paid $30,000. But the real injustice: her pseudo Mr. Rogers like interactions with your child/children. They will never forget because based on a few hours of building houses with blocks at her command, she will destroy the relationship with one or the other parent FOREVER. And she doesn’t care

TOTALLY traumatizing. A sorceress, who will destroy one or the other parent. For her “work”, a few meetings, a report, she charges @ $25,000. Crook County! The podium she stands at under the guise of back pain... she’s trying to intimidate. Her divorce was in Lake County though she lived in Cook. Cover up. Nothing I can say that would begin rival her incendiary, caustic comments that appear in her “report”. There is no recourse. She doesn’t help children. She only cares about herself.

For a forensic shrink she isn’t impressive and scary our system relies so heavily on her reports. She is arrogant and thinks she knows everything and likes to do all the talking.

Dr. Amabile has written a report full of lies about my mental health. Stay away from her. She is causing me to lose my daughter due to her lies about a diagnosis she claims I have, yet ironically, no other psychiatrist ever diagnosed me with. Her dishonesty and biased report are despicable. Her license should be revoked for the misuse of her titles. Thanks to her, I have to have supervised visitation with my child,and I am in the process of losing custody to a sociopathic liar and molester.

Dr. Amabile was very fair and knowledgeable. She was an excellent resource and I would recommend her to anyone.