There are daily opportunities for you to visit your child during their inpatient stay; we encourage you to visit as often as you are able/as often as your child’s doctor recommends, but fully understand if you are not able to visit daily. If you are unable to visit during designated visiting hours, please contact your child’s social worker to arrange an alternate time to visit.

Visiting Hours

  • Monday – Friday: 10:15 – 11:15 a.m., 5 – 6:30 p.m.

  • Weekends: 4 – 7 p.m.

Visiting Guidelines

  • Only parents/guardians may visit, unless you/the child’s legal guardian have provided written approval of other individuals.

  • No children under the age of 12 may visit the unit. We have limited space for visitors under the age of 12 in an off-hall conference room.

  • We respect the privacy and confidentiality of everyone we serve; we ask that all callers and visitors to the Child Unit provide a codeword, which is provided by each child’s legal guardian upon admission. In addition to having the codeword, all visitors must display ID upon entering the unit.

  • When visiting, you may not bring a cell phone or camera onto the unit; please be sure to leave these in a secure off-unit location when visiting.

  • If you are bringing in any items for your child, all bags will be searched before they are given to the child. This is for safety purposes.

  • If your child is missing schoolwork during their inpatient stay, you may use visiting hours to work with them on homework; we do not have homework time built into their daily schedule. However, we encourage you to work with your child’s school to designate their time in the hospital as an excused absence.

  • You may bring board or card games when you visit your child; we have games on the unit, but selection may be limited when many families are visiting.

  • If your child or another child or visitor becomes overly emotional or upset, we may ask you to temporarily leave the unit until the child is calm; sometimes, ending a visit early can be beneficial.

  • We cannot permit parents to stay on the unit overnight.

Sign-outs

  • As your child prepares to return to the community, we may ask you to participate in an on-grounds or off-grounds sign-outs. During sign-outs, you and your child leave the unit and work on real-world implementation of the skills they are learning in treatment.

In addition to visits, children on the unit are permitted to receive calls and mail. The phone is available for children to call people who are on their codeword list. Phone times are from 8:00 to 9:00 a.m. and 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. on weekdays, and 8:00 – 8:45 a.m. and 12 – 12:30 p.m. on weekends. Our mailing address is:

Patient Name
Child Unit
6501 N. Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21204

Please note that all mail must be opened with a treatment team member present.