This article discusses a program originated in response to the need to serve a most disturbed segment of children in New York City--youngsters discharged from psychiatric hospitals or residential treatment centers. This program directly links separate social institutions--the schools and the mental hospitals--in a plan for unified services to one group of children. The program is defined as a transitional resource intended to prepare these students for long-term placement in regular or special education classes. The goals are to improve social functioning and to provide academic remediation. Although the children are severly disturbed and many of their families are so helpless and disorganized that placement of a large percentage of them is a real consideration, the program has demonstrated that many of these children can attend school regularly, can improve their behaviors dramatically, and can learn. The authors present a description and progress report in order to highlight some of the successes and failures of the program. (Author/PC)