The Child Unit at Sheppard Pratt’s Towson hospital is a safe and secure 16-bed inpatient unit specially designed for males ages five through 11 and females ages five through 12.

People Cared For

  • Children

Level of Care

  • Inpatient

Payment Type

  • Medicare
  • Medicaid
  • Private Insurance
  • Self Pay

Philosophy of Care

The Child Unit is a crisis stabilization unit; children generally come here when they are struggling or experiencing a crisis at home, in the community, or at school, and are a danger to themselves or others.

While in our care, children quickly come to understand that they are in a safe, warm, welcoming environment, and are encouraged to talk about any problems and behaviors that are troubling them.

During each child’s stay, we focus on crisis stabilization so that the child can transition back into their home community as quickly as is safely possible. The average length of stay on the Child Unit is 10 to 14 days.

Who We Serve

We treat children with a variety of behavioral challenges and diagnoses on our unit; many have a mood disorder such as disruptive mood dysregulation disorder, or externalizing disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and oppositional defiant disorder. Although we do not directly treat trauma, our staff is highly skilled and sensitive to children with traumatic experiences, and we help address the acute behavioral changes that may often results from trauma.