inally, in many cases, child and adolescent psychi#atrists will serve as

consultants. This role is more

developed in our specialty than in most other areas
of medicine because of the constant disproportion
between the number of patients and the number of
clinicians. Inevitably, we consult and collaborate
with parents, educators, and other professionals who
may see the child and family more frequently and
intensively than we do; because of the breadth of our
training, we should offer a special competence in coor#dinating these efforts.
Concurrent with this role, we
often must serve as advocates for children and their
families in today’s environment of great clinical needs
and comparatively limited resources.