Abstract
The basic premise is that there is truth in the adage that 'without the body it is not possible to treat'; the secondary and implied corollary is that a climate for growth can be created. (The greenhouse shelters the fragile plant: the growing medium is selected, the right fertilizer added, plus water - and the temperature is controlled. Only when the plant appears to be sturdy and well-rooted is the move to normality 'in the open' undertaken by the skilled gardener). Swallow 1985) : 'the truth is that a heavily structured intensive treatment plan may be a fundamental part of the provision of real care but the myth that it is akin to a custodial punishment is hard to dispel'. The study has illustrated that in the area of child care, local authority secure accommodation has a worthy place as an aide to treatment. But it also indicates that whilst (i) there are, for some children and young people but NOT for all, other methods of 'holding' that do not rely on physical containment; and that (ii) the population placed in Local authority secure accommodation may be factorised into A. Young people, generally boys, who are on weekly remands (treated in a manner similar to that previous appertaining for youngsters in prison remand 'Certificates of Unruly Character') or on warrants to Local Authority remand homes; generally for these I.C.U. placements are an irrelevancy; B. Young people (of either sex) charged with the gravest offences - murder, rape, and manslaughter, or attempts thereto - for these the closeness of intensive care is a support and relief. Counselling for the future, the assaugement of guilt, and providing props against suicide and total despair are in equal part; and C. Those who are placed, in accordance with the Regulations, as 'persistently absconding and in moral/physical danger or likely to damage self or others'; it would be/is easy for a local authority 'owning' secure accommodation and being less than stringent in its concern to keep exactly to the letter of the regulations to use the accommodation to support its 'open' child care provision. The study has further indicated that where a local authority or other involved group is able similarly to isolate and control young people - by high staffing combined with some sort of cordon sanitaire - similar intensive work to that done in conditions of security is possible.