Journal of Child and Family Studies, VoL 4, No. 1, 1995,pp. 43-55 Children and Adolescents Discharged from Public Psychiatric Hospitals: Evaluation of Outcome in a Continuum of Care Dean X. Parmelee, M.D., 1,7 Robert Cohen, Ph.D., 2 Mary Nemil, B.A., 3 AI M. Best, Ph.D.4 Sharon Cassell, R.R.A., 5 and Prances Dyson, A.R.T.6 Ninety children and adolescents admitted to two state-operated psychiatric hospitals were followed from the time of their admission through one year post discharge. Data were collected from the children and adolescents, their families and clinicians at three intervals (during hospitalization, three months post discharge, and one year post discharge) to identify demographic, clinica~ and service history characteristics of the children and adolescents, as well as to track their placement and other dispositional status following discharge from the hospital The data indicated that the children and adolescents were seriously emotionally and behaviorally disturbed, came from families which were economically disadvantaged, and did not typically live in two-parent 1Associate Professor and Chair, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia. 2professor, Department of Psychiatry, Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia. 3Director of Admissions, Virginia Treatment Center for Children, Medical College of Virginia Hospitals, Richmond, Virginia. 4Associate Professor, Departments of Psychiatry and Biostatistics, Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia. 5Director of Medical Records, DeJarnette Center, Staunton, Virginia. e~ of Quality Assurance, Virginia Treatment Center for Children, Medical College of 7~oirginia Hospitals, Richmond, Virginia. rrespondence should be directed to Dean X. Parmelee, Department of Psychiatzy, Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, P.O. Box 980489, Richmond, VA 23298-0489. 43 1062*1024/95/U300-0043507.50/0 9 1995 Human Sciences Press, Inc.