Chief Executive Officer at the CDA, Alison Anderson McLean says 90 per cent of the 16,000 cases reported to the agency annually involve children who display uncontrollable behaviour.
Mrs Anderson-McLean made the disclosure at today’s parliamentary committee meeting reviewing the Office of the Children’s Advocate 2008/2009 annual report.
She was responding to committee member Gregory Mair’s concerns over the increased number of uncontrollable children in juvenile institutions.
The OCA’s report lists 39 children as having uncontrollable behaviour being placed in juvenile institutions in 2008.
Mr Mair commented that it appears that the increase in such cases stemmed from the number of persons simply giving up their duties as parents in preference of the state.
In the meantime, the CEO of the Child Development Agency said the absence of dedicated mental health facilities to deal with children categorized as having ‘uncontrollable” behaviour is a major challenge.
