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CHILDREN'S Advocate Diahann Gordon Harrison is supporting a call by the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) for more dedicated and sustained psychological support and intervention for juveniles in the country's penal system."We see psychosocial support on an ongoing basis as a critical part of their development, so I would join the DCS in saying that more concentrated financial resources on a sustainable basis would assist with providing that psychosocial care. Psychologists and psychiatrists work with the system (but) whether or not we have a sufficient number, remains a question that seems to keep coming up," she said in an interview with the Jamaica Observer on Monday.Gordon Harrison's comments follow last week's report by the DCS to a parliamentary committee, which painted a grim picture of dire deficiencies in health services, particularly mental health for children in juvenile correctional centres.According to the children's advocate, the issues which the DCS says are impacting the education programmes in the juvenile system echo observations she made from as far back as 2013 in a report to Parliament. It highlighted, among other things, the low levels of face-to-face contact that wards were having with teachers.Gordon Harrison stressed that children have a right to education whether or not they are inside a State facility. "It is a key part of developing a child, because what we want at the end of the day is for children to be motivated, nurtured and exposed to the learning that will help them to achieve their full potential," she said.But the children's advocate said while there has not been an overall assessment of the effectiveness of the current rehabilitative process for juveniles, there are some successes."For example, we are coming from a place where we routinely had girls being housed in an adult correctional facility; fast-forward to what we have now - a specialised facility for girls," she said, noting programmes which connect wards with mentors on the outside, as well as a number of non-governmental organisation initiatives, such as Stand Up Jamaica.There are only two full-time psychologists, two engaged on a sessional basis, and two sessional psychiatrists to serve the population of between 190 and 200 juveniles in penal institutions."They prepare reports for the children's courts, leaving little time to deal with the children while they are in custody. The children present with different types and levels of mental illnesses, including bipolar disorder, sleeping disorder, depression and suicide ideation," the DCS said last week.Wards, most of them having suffered some form of sexual, physical, or verbal abuse prior to entering the system, attempt to harm themselves and others. "To compound the problem, many of the child perpetrators are themselves victims of crime at the same time and many would have experienced the loss of loved ones and have witnessed persons being killed," the DCS stated.The department said the four juvenile correctional centres are in need of child and adolescence psychiatrists as well as additional dedicated psychologists for timely diagnoses and treatment.Generally, the DCS said, medical services in the juvenile correctional centres are woefully lacking. Currently, the medical team provides limited medical and dental care, and serious and complex cases are treated in public hospitals by appointment.At the same time, the shortage of teachers in the correctional system has hampered the provision of structured academic programmes to juveniles and vocational training courses are failing to meet national certification standards.Commissioner of Corrections Lt Col Gary Rowe said if these problems are not addressed they will hobble the rehabilitation efforts for reintegration of the juveniles into the sytsem.In the meantime, state minister for national security Zavia Mayne is urging private sector companies to assist the DCS. "This is an opportunity to come on-board and further the work of the DCS and help us to become better resourced in what we do," he told a ceremony to hand over of tablets and accessories by the Amber Group, at the South Camp Juvenile Remand and Correctional Centre, recently.Mayne said the wards will be allowed to use the devices to interact with their families, "but most importantly, the tablets will also allow for virtual counselling and enable wards to have the benefit of counselling sessions that will help them to develop and rehabilitate", he said.