forensic child psychiatry?

[abcxyz0123]

Hello...I just had 2 questions:

1. If you were triple boarded in psych, child psych and forensic psych, would that make it easier to get more forensic cases in a private practice setting (since you would be uniquely qualified in dealing with child custody cases, etc.)...or would it not not make much of a difference?

2. If one wanted to go down this path, by fast-tracking into child psych after 3 years of general psych...how would you do it? Would you focus on doing child-psych research during your adult residency, get into a child psych program after 3 years, and then start doing forensics research for 1 year during the child psych fellowship, and apply for forensics? Or is it possible to get into a child psych fellowship without doing any child psych research, but only forensics research (since that is the harder program to get into)?

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[Chimed]

I can't comment on the forensic questions....In general, it is not difficult to match into a child fellowship. Unless you're trying to get into one of the top research child fellowships such as Yale, I don't think you'll have any problem getting a fellowship without research. Of course, that's assuming you did well in your adult training and have no "red flags." The easiest thing to do is to match into an adult program that either has a combined Adult/Child program such as UMass or Pitt or match into an adult program that likes to keep its own residents. I would venture to say that most adult programs like to keep their own. One thing that would make sense for you is to do research in child forensics. That way, you're covering both aspects of your interests and it will look get for either program.

 

[Doc Samson]

I agree - the simplest way would be to match into a residency with both C&A and forensic fellowships attached, then establish relationships in both fellowship programs.