CHILD PSYCHIATRIC-CONSULTATION SERVICE TO COMMUNITY AGENCIES - A COLLABORATIVE APPROACH INVOLVING 3 COMMUNITY AGENCIES

Objective: To report the early experience of a multiagency child psych iatric consultation service. Method: The program is described, and the demographic characteristics of clients referred to the consultation p rogram over the first 25 months of operation are presented. Referrals were examined for demographics and the questions consultees wanted to have answered. Results: In 59 of 100 consultations, physical and/or se xual abuse was proved or highly suspected. In 82 of the 100 cases, con sultees had questions pertaining to management issues. Questions relat ed to diagnostic issues numbered 62, and there were 45 questions about safety issues. Conclusion: Effective psychiatric consultations servic es to rural areas can be established. Once established, thequestions o f consultees can provide an effective training ground for future commu nity-oriented child psychiatrists.