Distinctions between legal and ethical obligations of mental health professionals are complex when working with children in clinical, institutional, and research settings. Controversy over the rights of children complicates ethical decisionmaking, and the law often treats children as "exceptions to the rule." The ability of children to make well-informed decisions about their lives and their exercise of that ability, directly or through proxy, is a core issue that cuts across many ethical problems. The law, society, and many mental health professionals generally assume that children are not able to make major life decisions on their own. This assumption is often correct, and rules that exist to deny children independent decisionmaking authority generally serve to protect them in the long run. At the same time, the relative dependency, vulnerability, and immaturity of children often interact with complex family roles to create conflicts of interest. The book is directed at a broad spectrum of professionals who attend to the mental health needs of children, including psychologists, psychiatrists, family counselors, social workers, and psychiatric nurses. Consideration is given to counseling in schools, psychotherapy, ethical issues in the psychological assessment of children, confidentiality and clinical competence in serving children and families, planning and recruiting participants for research with children, risk potential and management in research, and children and the courts. A glossary of major case law decisions, a table of cases, and subject and author indexes are included. 256 references