Finding a Child Psychiatrist for a Child with a Conduct Disorder

Are you one of those parents who have received a call from the school informing you that they believe your child may have a conduct disorder? Has your patience been tested to the limit and you are ready to throw in the towel since everything you have tried to remedy the behavioral problems of your child has failed? Perhaps you have recognized a conduct disorder in your child and you just need help for the proper way of handling the behavior. If you fall under any of these categories, you may need to search for a child psychiatrist to help you face the conduct disorder of your child head on.

Finding a child psychiatrist may not be as simple as it sounds. When I was searching for a child psychiatrist for one of foster children I was raising, I approached the situation with the same approach I use for finding a doctor or pediatrician. I began by making quite a few phone calls and a list of child psychiatrists in my area as well as surrounding areas. I called friends, relatives and Social Services to see who they suggested. In case you didn't realize it, Social Services deal with many children with conduct and behavioral disorders. Since they are the ones looking out for the best interest of children, especially the ones in foster care, they have quite a bit of insight on where to find a child psychiatrist. On top of that, Social Services is more than willing to help families by sharing child psychiatrists they use.

When calling and asking around for information, I was sure to ask several key questions. I asked:

1. Can you recommend a good child psychiatrist?
2. How does the psychiatrist interact with your child or with children in general?
3. How long have you known the psychiatrist?
4. Does the psychiatrist specialize in conduct disorders?
5. Does your child like the psychiatrist?

These are the main questions I would ask. Of course there were other questions as well since I wanted to make the best decision possible in helping my foster child cope.

After calling around and getting a list together of child psychiatrist candidates, I then took the time to call the offices of the ones most highly recommended. I spoke with the secretary at each office and explain that my child had a conduct problem that needed addressing. Without being overly specific, I asked if I could set up a brief appointment to meet with the child psychiatrist to see how they would interact with my child as well as me. I wanted to see face to face how the child psychiatrist would react to my child. I also wanted to find out if the psychiatrist was personable, friendly, or just doing the job to make a dollar.

During the visit, I paid close attention to the interactions between my foster child and the child psychiatrist. I watched for smiles from both of them, the way the two spoke to each other and the body language as well. If there was little or no interaction, I crossed that name off my list of candidates. I circled the names of the ones I was most impressed with.

In making a final decision of which child psychiatrist to choose for my child's conduct disorder I reevaluated the meetings with each. At this point, I had my list narrowed down to two child psychiatrists I thought would best suit our needs. Since I felt like both were qualified and both would go above and beyond, my decision was made based on the office hours. With my schedule and the schedule of the child, a late afternoon meeting worked best for us. After making a decision, I set up an appointment. We visited the child psychiatrist everyone other week for more than a year. I was more than pleased with the decision I had made.