Discussed are attempts made by staff at the Community Mental Health Center of the New Jersey School of Medicine to develop an ongoing working relationship with pediatric neonatologists, house staff, and nursing staff in order to promote their attunement to mental health needs and obtain access to their expertise. After a description of the center and the dimensions of infant mental health care, the document provides examples of cooperation in clinical work and ways of building liaison and overcoming conflict. Building the working relationship is a complex process in which all sides try to balance the common interests in tasks, school, and clientele against the special interests of departmental, professional, and individual success and recognition. Cooperation in this process appears possible only by making continued helpful nonpartisan contributions and by displaying genuine openness in communications, in the hope that these efforts will be reciprocated. (RH)