The Newman government will close the only mental health unit in Queensland that houses teens with severe mental disorders.
Health Minister Lawrence Springborg told the ABC the closure would go ahead early next year.
The Barrett Adolescent Centre is an in-patient psychiatric unit at Wacol, in Brisbane. It treats 13 to 18-year-olds.
Mr Springborg said its services would be decentralised.
"That centre will be closing as we come up with a range of new options to deliver those services to people closer to their own home," he said.
Opposition health spokeswoman Jo-Ann Miller said the closure was a betrayal of the state's most vulnerable young people.
She said it was being closed despite a clinical review that found its residential model of care and integrated special school was an essential part of a state-wide mental health service for young people.
Mrs Miller said the decision meant highly vulnerable adolescents could find themselves on acute adult wards at risk of violence and sexual abuse.
"This is an appalling decision that could have catastrophic outcomes," she said.
