whatever is going on, i suspect you are not alone...cynical take ahead--maybe others can share a different more hopeful outlook...I think a lot of people are not happy with their CAP fellowship. I think for a fair amount, it is something they tolerate to become a child psychiatrist. The program that I fast tracked into on paper seems very solid and 'academic'; however, there was an almost universal feeling of disappointment for those of us who came from outside institutions at my program. The patients, their families, and direct supervision was where the opportunity to learn was; but, the actual didactic was completely absent from the 'academic' place I was at. I've wondered if it has to do with child programs not being held to the same standard as general programs (and thus able to get by providing a sub-standard educational experience as you have already completed most of the requirements during general training). Also wonder if CAP selects in some way for a certain person in search of greener pastures? I suppose since most only get to do one child fellowship, its hard to know.
If the educational environment is part of the issue, I found the AACAP conferences and recordings to offer a huge amount of great learning material, and if you have a local analytic institute (or if you can some classes virtually), this may carry you through. Wonder if you can make it to AACAP conference in October this fall--the regional happy hour sessions would be such an amazing place to meet/network with programs in areas you are interested in transferring to.
As an aside, I've not found the job market for CAP to be better than the adult market. I think it is mostly a myth that Child leads to greater job opportunities at least at present. The issue (outside of private pactice? and academic jobs) is that places (in regions I've looked) tend to give the same amount of follow up/intake times for child vs adult--which makes good child psychiatry increasingly hard to practice. I'd guess that it would be easy to transfer into a great program for PGY-5 as I think it is not uncommon for people to leave after 4 years. Not knowing anything about you, I'd say give it some time to settle in and also keep in mind, that it is quite reasonable to call it a day after you finish year 4.
