Young kids locked up in secure care

Children as young as eight are being locked up in WA's secure unit for extremely troubled young people in care.

The $7.36 million Kath French Centre was opened in May 2011 to hold children aged from 12 to 18 deemed at risk of self-harm or a risk to the community for as long as six weeks at a time.

Department for Child Protection data reveals two eight-year-olds, three 10-year-olds and two 11-year-olds were among 39 children detained at the Stoneville centre over the past 10 months.

The centre gives children "intensive therapeutic intervention" from nurses, doctors, teachers and psychiatrists. But department figures show many children were held at the centre on more than one occasion over the past 10 months, with 50 admissions spread between 39 children.

Department director-general Emma White said children at the Kath French Centre had "extreme social and emotional problems" and were "a significant risk to themselves and others".

"As the child or young person presents with a number of complex problems, it is difficult to measure the success of their stay at secure care," she said.

"They may make considerable gains in one area and the department will continue to provide further support for other areas of their life once they leave secure care."

Almost 60 per cent of children held at the centre since last July were girls, compared with just 36 per cent in 2011-12.

The centre opened with nine beds, but has since been reduced to six, which Ms White said was considered sufficient.

But shadow minister for child protection Stephen Dawson said child protection workers had told him young people now came into care with more complex needs and wanted the centre to be extended, not made smaller.

"Child protection workers tell me there are more kids in the system that should go to the Kath French Centre," he said.

Concerns have also been raised about a lack of independent oversight of the centre's operations.