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State Closing Youth Mental Health Unit
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) -- Despite objections from the state's largest employee union, Illinois is phasing out its one of a kind mental health unit for troubled adolescents in Springfield.

Gov. Pat Quinn's Quinn administration confirmed Friday to the (Bloomington) Pantagraph that it will begin closing the unit at the Andrew McFarland Mental Health Center.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees has complained about the move.

About a dozen beds at McFarland have been set aside for adolescents referred to the state for treatment by judges.

McFarland is the only state-run facility serving such patients.
There were only four admissions in the first half of this fiscal year.
The state says juveniles who are referred to state care will be placed in the privately operated Streamwood Behavioral Health Center northwest of Chicago.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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