This paper focuses on the contribution child psychotherapists can make to assessments for the family courts. It arises out of work undertaken as a member of a multi-disciplinary team in a small specialist family centre. The paper illustrates the way in which detailed observation and psychoanalytic thinking are used in the assessment of parent—child relationships. The paper seeks to highlight the way in which the impact of abuse and trauma on babies and very young children is often underestimated and to illustrate ways in which the team of this particular family centre addresses this issue in its recommendations for court.