Page 5985 - Week 18 - Thursday, 12 December 1991
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Mr Speaker, over the last year you would be aware of the controversy over the secondary unit, which is in the process of being reviewed and moved to Dairy Flat. Some evidence suggested that the primary unit also needs to be reviewed. Concerns were raised regarding the waiting time to enrol students into the unit. Generally, when a school applies they are in a crisis situation and consider it inappropriate to have to wait weeks and weeks.
Schools reported that students were being reintegrated into the school system too early and were not provided with sufficient back-up support. Also, the location of the unit and transport to and from the unit pose a problem and need to be considered when being reviewed.
Truancy, or absence from school without permission, was identified as a serious problem by both government organisations and the community. In each high school it is considered that there would be up to five or six students truanting each day. The committee found it difficult to believe that the Department of Education and the Arts was unable to provide precise numbers of students truanting and that there is only limited follow-up if a child is found to be truanting. Presently, truanting is covered under two pieces of legislation and administered by two different agencies. Considering that the consequences of truanting are devastating, the committee has recommended, at page 51:
the ACT Government review the legislation relating to non school attendance;
In New South Wales truancy had become a serious problem and a successful home-school liaison program was established to deal with it. The ACT would be well advised to follow the example.
The committee's attention was repeatedly drawn to the fact that categorisation and diagnosis, or the lack of diagnosis, created difficulty for people to access services. There is insufficient professional mental health support available for children and adolescents in the ACT and there are no appropriate psychiatric facilities for young people. Young people with psychiatric conditions are admitted to an adult ward, which is inappropriate, and the committee was told that often staff are not sympathetic.
The committee visited the adolescent ward at Westmead Hospital, and recommends, on page 56, that a similar ward be established in the ACT public hospital system. The cost would be minimal, as the beds are already there, and the benefits would be immeasurable. Staff who are sympathetic to the special needs of adolescents would need to be specially trained. The committee is disappointed that the Government has not seen fit to go ahead with the adolescent ward during the hospital redevelopment as it is an ideal time to do it.
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