Day Treatment of Adolescents: An Alternative to Institutionalization.

KOKOMO (Ind.); INDIANA; UNITED States

A concern of school, mental health, and correctional professionals is the growing number of adjudicated adolescents. This article examines a community-based day treatment program for youths who otherwise might be institutionalized.
The purpose of this article is to describe a unique partial hospitalization service for dysfunctioning teenagers run by the Regional Mental Health Center (RMHC) of Kokomo, Indiana. Serving the residents of Howard County, the Adolescent Day Treatment Program (ADTP) offers an alternative to institutionalization
Participants involved in the ADTP are status offenders; that is, they have histories of truancy, running away from home, illegal consumption of alcoholic beverages, or "incorrigibility." Such chronic behavior problems have subjected these adolescents to the jurisdiction of a juvenile court, resulting in the label juvenile delinquent. Because removal from home usually is the last alternative considered by the court, a judge sentences identified teenagers to this local program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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